New Mexico truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in New Mexico by year

Truck accident deaths numbered 51 in 2020, with a 12.8% share of all traffic deaths; 89 in 2021, with 18.4%; and 91 in 2022, with 19.5%. The count reached 98 in 2023, with 22.3%, before falling to 84 in 2024, with 20.5%. Both the death count and the share were highest in 2023 and lowest in 2020. The 2024 count was 33 deaths higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

New Mexico's share of national large-truck deaths was 1.0% in 2020, 1.5% in 2021, 1.5% in 2022, 1.8% in 2023 and 1.6% in 2024. Across the full period, the state accounted for 1.5% of the national total.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

2024 figures come from the FARS Annual Report File and can be revised when NHTSA publishes the final file.

Who died in New Mexico truck accidents

People in the large truck accounted for 112 deaths, or 27.1%. People in other vehicles accounted for 248 deaths, or 60.0%, the largest person category. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" accounted for 53 deaths, or 12.8%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label represents the FARS nonoccupant grouping: pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and other or unknown nonoccupants. It is not a literal test of being outside a vehicle. The other category can include occupants of parked motor vehicles not in transport. These categories describe people killed in truck accidents.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Fatal crashes in New Mexico involved 456 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 343 trucks, or 75.2%. Single-unit and other large trucks numbered 113. The category for large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating contained 362 trucks, representing 79.4% of the large trucks counted.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The records identified 8 large trucks as jackknifed and 8 as carrying hazardous materials. Each figure here counts trucks, rather than truck accident deaths or fatal crashes. Multiple large trucks can be involved in a crash. For 2024, the large-truck count was 92, matching the supplied NHTSA published count for that year.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

Counts are trucks, not crashes. One crash can involve more than one large truck.

Interstates and crash types

Interstate truck accident deaths totaled 200 in New Mexico from 2020 through 2024, representing 48.4% of the state's large-truck crash deaths. Among the listed routes, I-40 recorded 137 large-truck crash deaths, I-25 recorded 40 and I-10 recorded 23.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The separate all-traffic death counts on those routes were 251 for I-40, 211 for I-25 and 55 for I-10. Those figures are not truck accident death counts. The route rows cover the supplied route-coded subset, rather than the full road network. Work-zone large-truck crashes accounted for 26 deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Bernalillo County had the highest truck accident death count, 57, with an average annual rate of 1.7 per 100,000 residents. McKinley County recorded 40 deaths and a rate of 11.4; Lea County recorded 38 and 10.3; Cibola County recorded 32 and 23.8.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Guadalupe County's 21 deaths corresponded to 96.0, the highest rate among the listed counties. Doña Ana County recorded 12 deaths and 1.1, the lowest listed rate. These rows are a subset; rates with small death counts are sensitive to each death.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Up to 15 counties with the most deaths in the period, largest first. Rates for counties with few deaths change sharply with each death.

How New Mexico compares with the national rate

New Mexico's average annual truck accident death rate was 3.9 per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts were 413 for New Mexico and 27,553 for the United States. The state rate was higher than the national rate.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The denominator sums annual Census population estimates across the period, rather than using only the 2024 population of 2,126,774. Rates include no mileage or visitor adjustment. When reading these counts alongside the phrase truck accident lawyer, keep crash-location deaths distinct from the resident population used to calculate rates.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" accounted for 123 deaths and means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can be stopped in traffic. Rear-end collisions accounted for 121 deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Separately, daytime truck accident deaths numbered 204 and nighttime deaths numbered 209. Urban deaths numbered 79, rural deaths 333, and land use was unreported for 1. Crash configuration, a distinct classification, recorded 94 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 229 in two-vehicle crashes and 90 in crashes involving three or more vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

People in the large truck who died included 51 in single-vehicle crashes and 61 in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. These figures describe the truck-occupant subset. They do not represent everyone killed in New Mexico truck accidents, which also include other person categories.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

New Mexico's FARS records cover fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes on trafficways customarily open to the public, with an occupant or nonoccupant dying within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. State and county assignments follow crash location, not the deceased person's home.^[9][6][7][8]

The 2020 through 2023 figures use Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates divide deaths by summed annual Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates and multiply by 100,000. The separate July 1, 2024 estimate is not that denominator. Neither miles driven nor visitors are adjustments in these rates.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-10 truck accidents in New Mexico (2020-2024)
• I-25 truck accidents in New Mexico (2020-2024)
• I-40 truck accidents in New Mexico (2020-2024)

On related publications

• New Mexico car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Bernalillo County, New Mexico (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for McKinley County, New Mexico (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Lea County, New Mexico (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Torrance County, New Mexico (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)