Pennsylvania truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Pennsylvania by year

Annual Pennsylvania truck accident deaths were 132 in 2020, 162 in 2021, 185 in 2022, 180 in 2023 and 167 in 2024. Their shares of all traffic deaths were 11.7%, 13.2%, 15.7%, 14.9% and 14.8%, respectively. Both deaths and their traffic-death share were highest in 2022 and lowest in 2020. The 2024 death count was 35 higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

Pennsylvania's annual shares of national large-truck deaths were 2.7%, 2.8%, 3.1%, 3.3% and 3.1%, respectively. That share was highest in 2023 and lowest in 2020. Across 2020 through 2024, Pennsylvania accounted for 3.0% of the national total of 27,553 large-truck deaths.^{[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 Pennsylvania truck accidents

People in other vehicles accounted for 571 Pennsylvania truck accident deaths, or 69.1%. People in the large truck accounted for 153 deaths, or 18.5%. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" accounts for 102 deaths, or 12.3%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

That quoted label identifies the FARS nonoccupant grouping: pedestrians, pedalcyclists and other or unknown nonoccupants. The other category can include occupants of motor vehicles not in transport, such as parked vehicles. It is not a literal test of whether someone was outside a vehicle when the crash occurred.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Pennsylvania's fatal crashes involved 835 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 441 trucks, or 52.8%, while the category single-unit and other large trucks accounted for 394. There were 615 large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, representing 73.7% of the large trucks counted.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The records also identify 23 large trucks recorded as jackknifed and 14 large trucks carrying hazardous materials. Each figure describes trucks involved in fatal crashes, not the number of truck accident deaths or crashes. A fatal crash can involve multiple large trucks, so these vehicle counts remain distinct from the crash count.^{[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 crashes accounted for 241 Pennsylvania truck accident deaths, or 29.2%, during 2020 through 2024. Among the listed routes, large-truck crash deaths numbered 56 on I-80, 55 on I-81 and 34 on I-76. The separate all-death counts on those routes were 83, 107 and 79, respectively.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

These route-coded figures are a supplied subset, not a complete road-network accounting. The interstate measure uses the interstate route classification and a parseable I-route number in the recorded roadway identifier. Work-zone crashes accounted for 43 deaths, a death count rather than a truck count.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Lancaster County had the highest truck accident death count, 51, with an average annual rate of 1.8 per 100,000 residents. Allegheny County recorded 37 deaths and a rate of 0.6. Berks County and York County each recorded 31 deaths; their rates were 1.4 and 1.3, respectively.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Schuylkill County's 25 deaths corresponded to 3.5, the highest rate among the listed counties. Philadelphia County recorded 29 deaths and the lowest listed rate, 0.4. These rows represent a supplied county subset, not every county in Pennsylvania.^{[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 Pennsylvania compares with the national rate

Pennsylvania's average annual truck accident death rate was 1.3 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts for 2020 through 2024 were 826 and 27,553. The state rate was lower than the national rate.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Each rate divides deaths by summed annual Census population estimates for the period, then multiplies by 100,000. Pennsylvania's separately reported 2024 population of 13,045,848 is not that denominator. The calculation makes no adjustment for mileage or visitors. When reading for a truck accident lawyer search, keep population-based rates distinct from counts of deaths at crash locations.^{[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" accounts for 247 deaths: no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can include vehicles stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Pennsylvania truck accident deaths numbered 531 in daytime and 295 at nighttime; land-use counts were 391 urban, 433 rural and 2 not reported. Separate crash-configuration counts were 177 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 495 in two-vehicle crashes and 154 in crashes involving three or more vehicles. These classifications describe different aspects of the crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck, 95 died in single-vehicle crashes and 58 died in multiple-vehicle crashes in Pennsylvania during 2020 through 2024. These truck occupant deaths are a subset of truck accident deaths; they exclude people in other vehicles and the nonoccupant grouping.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Pennsylvania counts use FARS crash-location fields, not the deceased person's residence. FARS covers fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes on trafficways customarily open to the public, requiring an occupant or nonoccupant death within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded.^[9][6][7][8]

Pennsylvania's 2020 through 2023 records are Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates use summed annual Census Bureau Vintage 2025 population estimates, multiplied into a per-100,000 measure. They adjust for neither mileage nor visitors. The separately shown July 1, 2024 population is not the denominator for the period's average annual death rate.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-76 truck accidents in Pennsylvania (2020-2024)
• I-80 truck accidents in Pennsylvania (2020-2024)
• I-81 truck accidents in Pennsylvania (2020-2024)

On related publications

• Pennsylvania car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Berks County, Pennsylvania (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for York County, Pennsylvania (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)