North Carolina truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in North Carolina by year

Truck accident deaths numbered 169 in 2020, 172 in 2021, 194 in 2022, 193 in 2023 and 205 in 2024. Their shares of all traffic deaths were 11.0%, 10.2%, 11.9%, 12.2% and 12.7%, respectively. The highest death count was in 2024; the lowest was in 2020. The 2024 count was 36 deaths higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

North Carolina's shares of national large-truck deaths were 3.4%, 3.0%, 3.3%, 3.5% and 3.8% in the same annual order. Across the period, its share was 3.4%. The truck accident share of state traffic deaths was lowest in 2021 and highest in 2024, as was the state's annual national share.^{[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 North Carolina truck accidents

People in the large truck accounted for 146 deaths, or 15.6%. People in other vehicles accounted for 684 deaths, or 73.3%, the largest person category. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 103 deaths, or 11.0%, in North Carolina truck accidents.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label denotes the FARS nonoccupant grouping, including 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 motor vehicles not in transport, such as parked vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Fatal crashes in North Carolina involved 881 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 435 trucks, or 49.4%. The single-unit and other large trucks category contained 446 trucks. Large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating numbered 578, representing 65.6% of the large trucks counted.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The records also identify 23 large trucks as jackknifed and 20 as carrying hazardous materials. Each figure describes trucks involved in fatal crashes, rather than a count of crashes or deaths. A truck accident can involve multiple large trucks, so the vehicle counts and the fatal crash counts measure different things.^{[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 numbered 213, accounting for 22.8% of North Carolina's large-truck crash deaths. Among the listed routes, large-truck crash deaths were 57 on I-95, 54 on I-85, 34 on I-40 and 27 on I-77.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The separate all-deaths figures for those routes were 139, 194, 220 and 79, respectively. Those route totals are not counts limited to large-truck crashes. The listed routes form a route-coded subset, rather than a complete road network. Separately, work-zone truck accident deaths numbered 49 during 2020 through 2024.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Mecklenburg County had the highest truck accident death count, 65, with an average annual rate of 1.1 per 100,000 residents. Robeson County recorded 35 deaths and a rate of 6.0; Wake County recorded 33 and 0.6.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Duplin County had 20 deaths and the highest rate among the listed counties, 8.1. Wake County's rate was the lowest among these rows. Guilford County recorded 31 deaths and a rate of 1.1. These counties are a supplied subset; counts and population-based rates are separate measures.^{[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 North Carolina compares with the national rate

North Carolina's average annual truck accident death rate was 1.7 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts for 2020 through 2024 were 933 in North Carolina and 27,553 nationally.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Each rate uses deaths divided by summed annual Census Bureau population estimates for the period, multiplied by 100,000. The separately reported 2024 population of 11,052,061 is not the denominator. Neither mileage nor visitors are adjustments in these rates. For readers searching for a truck accident lawyer, the distinction to retain here is that population-based rates and crash-location death counts are different measures.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision identifies the first harmful event. "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport; transport includes vehicles stopped in traffic. That row recorded 235 deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime truck accident deaths numbered 623; nighttime deaths numbered 310. Urban deaths numbered 330, rural deaths 602, and land use was not reported for 1 death. Separately, crash configuration recorded 164 single-vehicle deaths, 608 two-vehicle deaths and 161 deaths in crashes involving three or more vehicles. Configuration is distinct from manner of collision.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in North Carolina, 95 died in single-vehicle crashes and 51 in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. These truck accident figures concern truck occupants specifically, a subset of the 933 people killed across all person categories.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

North Carolina records come from NHTSA FARS, a census of fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes. Inclusion requires a motor vehicle traveling on a trafficway customarily open to the public and an occupant or nonoccupant death within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded.^[9][6][7][8]

State and county counts follow recorded crash locations, not home addresses. The 2020 through 2023 records are Final Files; the 2024 Annual Report File remains revisable. Rates use summed annual Census estimates, Vintage 2025, without mileage or visitor adjustments. North Carolina's separately displayed July 1, 2024 population is not their denominator.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-40 truck accidents in North Carolina (2020-2024)
• I-77 truck accidents in North Carolina (2020-2024)
• I-85 truck accidents in North Carolina (2020-2024)
• I-95 truck accidents in North Carolina (2020-2024)

On related publications

• North Carolina car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Robeson County, North Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Wake County, North Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Guilford County, North Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Cumberland County, North Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)