South Carolina truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in South Carolina by year

Annual truck accident deaths were 132 in 2020, 145 in 2021, 126 in 2022, 122 in 2023 and 139 in 2024. Their respective shares of all traffic deaths were 12.4%, 12.1%, 11.5%, 11.7% and 13.4%. The highest death count occurred in 2021; the lowest occurred in 2023. The 2024 count was 7 deaths higher than in 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

South Carolina's shares of the national large-truck death total were 2.7%, 2.5%, 2.1%, 2.2% and 2.6%, respectively. Across 2020 through 2024, the state accounted for 2.4% of the national total of 27,553 deaths. The highest annual state share of all traffic deaths was 13.4% in 2024.^{[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 South Carolina truck accidents

People in the large truck accounted for 95 deaths, or 14.3%, while people in other vehicles accounted for 497, or 74.8%. The row "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 72 deaths, or 10.8%. People in other vehicles formed the largest category of truck accident deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The 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 grouping can include occupants of motor vehicles not in transport, including parked vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

Fatal crashes in South Carolina involved 642 large trucks during 2020 through 2024. Of these, 345 were truck-tractors, representing 53.7%. The category single-unit and other large trucks recorded 297 vehicles. Large trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating numbered 453, accounting for 70.6% of the large trucks counted.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

The records also identified 9 large trucks as jackknifed and 14 as carrying hazardous materials. Each of these figures counts trucks involved in fatal crashes, rather than crashes or people killed. A truck accident can involve multiple large trucks, so vehicle counts and fatal-crash counts describe different measures in these records.^{[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 183, or 27.6% of South Carolina's total. Among the listed routes, deaths in large-truck crashes were 50 on I-26, 43 on I-95, 28 on I-85, 27 on I-20 and 26 on I-77.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

All traffic deaths on those routes were 172, 120, 76, 89 and 88, respectively. Those route totals are distinct from the large-truck death counts. The listed routes form a route-coded subset, rather than a complete road network. Separately, work-zone records identified 29 deaths in truck accidents during 2020 through 2024.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Greenville County had the highest truck accident death count, 42, with an average annual rate of 1.5 per 100,000 residents. Spartanburg County recorded 41 deaths and a rate of 2.4; Richland County recorded 34 and 1.6.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Jasper County had the highest rate among the listed counties, 12.3, with 20 deaths. Orangeburg County recorded 33 deaths and a rate of 7.9; Cherokee County recorded 21 and 7.4. These rows are a supplied subset. County rates with small death counts can change sharply with 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 South Carolina compares with the national rate

South Carolina's average annual truck accident death rate was 2.5 per 100,000 residents, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The death counts associated with those rates were 664 for South Carolina and 27,553 for the United States during 2020 through 2024.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The denominator sums annual Census Bureau population estimates for the entire period. It is not the separately reported July 1, 2024 population of 5,490,316. The rates do not adjust for mileage or visitors. For a reader searching "truck accident lawyer," the distinction here is between deaths counted by crash location and a population-based rate.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Manner of collision and setting

Manner of collision describes the first harmful event: angle collisions recorded 172 deaths. "Not a collision with another moving vehicle" means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport; transport includes vehicles stopped in traffic.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime truck accident deaths numbered 421, versus 243 at nighttime. Urban deaths numbered 238; rural deaths numbered 426. Separate crash-configuration figures recorded 121 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 407 in two-vehicle crashes and 136 in crashes involving three or more vehicles. Configuration counts vehicles involved; it 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 South Carolina, 62 died in single-vehicle crashes and 33 in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. These truck accident figures concern truck occupants specifically. They do not describe the crash configuration for everyone killed in large-truck crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

South Carolina's FARS records cover fatal traffic crashes on trafficways customarily open to the public, involving a motor vehicle and an occupant or nonoccupant death within 30 days. Nonfatal crashes and injuries are excluded. State and county assignments follow crash location, not residence.^[9][6][7][8]

Records for 2020 through 2023 are Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates divide deaths by summed annual Census Bureau estimates, Vintage 2025, then multiply by 100,000. They express average annual deaths per 100,000 residents without mileage or visitor adjustments; the separately shown July 1, 2024 population is not the denominator.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

• I-20 truck accidents in South Carolina (2020-2024)
• I-26 truck accidents in South Carolina (2020-2024)
• I-77 truck accidents in South Carolina (2020-2024)
• I-85 truck accidents in South Carolina (2020-2024)

On related publications

• South Carolina car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Greenville County, South Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Richland County, South Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Orangeburg County, South Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)
• Truck accident statistics for Horry County, South Carolina (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)