Rhode Island truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in Rhode Island by year

Annual truck accident deaths were 6 in 2020, 3 in 2021, 5 in 2022, 3 in 2023 and 5 in 2024. Their respective shares of all traffic deaths were 9.0%, 4.8%, 9.6%, 4.2% and 9.6%. The highest death count occurred in 2020; 2021 and 2023 tied for the lowest. The highest share was shared by 2022 and 2024, while 2023 had the lowest share.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

The 2024 count was 1 death lower than in 2020. Rhode Island accounted for 0.1% of the national large-truck death total in each listed year and 0.1% across the period, when the national total was 27,553 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 Rhode Island truck accidents

People in other vehicles accounted for 15 truck accident deaths, or 68.2%. People in the large truck accounted for 2 deaths, or 9.1%. The row labeled "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 5 deaths, or 22.7%.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

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

The trucks involved

The Rhode Island truck accident records identify 22 large trucks in fatal crashes during 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 8 trucks, or 36.4%; the single-unit and other large trucks category contained 14. There were 13 large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, representing 59.1% of the large trucks counted.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The records show 0 large trucks recorded as jackknifed and 0 large trucks carrying hazardous materials. Every figure in this section counts trucks rather than crashes or deaths. A fatal crash can involve multiple large trucks, so vehicle counts and fatal-crash counts describe different measures of truck accident involvement.^{[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 5 in Rhode Island during 2020 through 2024, representing 22.7% of large-truck crash deaths. The interstate classification uses the recorded route category and a parseable interstate route number.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

No interstate segment met the 20-death threshold for the route table. The row stating "No interstate segment met the 20-death threshold" displays 0 in each death column; those entries do not replace the interstate total of 5 deaths in large-truck crashes. Large-truck crash deaths and all deaths on a listed route are separate measures. The route-coded subset is not the full road network. Work-zone truck accident deaths numbered 1.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Providence County had the highest truck accident death count, 15, followed by Washington County with 3. Kent County and Newport County each recorded 2 deaths, tying for the lowest listed count.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Average annual deaths per 100,000 residents were 0.5 in Providence County, Washington County and Newport County, and 0.2 in Kent County. Those rates compare with Rhode Island's 0.4. The county rows are a supplied subset rather than a complete county listing. With small death counts, each death can sharply change a county rate.^{[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 Rhode Island compares with the national rate

Rhode Island's average annual truck accident death rate was 0.4 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts for 2020 through 2024 were 22 in Rhode Island and 27,553 nationally.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

These rates divide deaths by summed annual Census Bureau population estimates for the period, then multiply by 100,000. They do not use only the July 1, 2024 Rhode Island population of 1,110,415. Neither mileage nor visitors are adjustments in this measure. Readers searching for a truck accident lawyer should distinguish these population-based rates from the separate counts of deaths and fatal crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event. Angle collisions recorded 7 deaths; head-on and rear-end each recorded 4; sideswipe recorded 1. "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" recorded 6: this means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can include a vehicle stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime and nighttime each recorded 11 deaths (50.0%). Urban deaths numbered 18 (81.8%); rural deaths, 4 (18.2%). Deaths by crash configuration were single-vehicle, 5 (22.7%); two-vehicle, 13 (59.1%); and three or more vehicles, 4 (18.2%). These classifications describe different crash characteristics.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in Rhode Island, 1 death occurred in a single-vehicle crash and 1 in a multiple-vehicle crash. These equal counts concern truck occupants only. They are distinct from the counts covering everyone killed in truck accidents.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

Rhode Island'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 residence.^[9][6][7][8]

Records for 2020 through 2023 are Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates use summed annual Census Bureau Vintage 2025 populations and multiplication by 100,000, without mileage or visitor adjustments. The separately shown July 1, 2024 population is not the denominator for Rhode Island's average annual rate.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

On related publications

• Rhode Island car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)