West Virginia truck accident statistics (2020-2024)

Truck accident deaths in West Virginia by year

Annual truck accident deaths were 33 in 2020, 45 in 2021, 40 in 2022, 45 in 2023 and 40 in 2024. Their shares of all traffic deaths were 12.4%, 16.0%, 15.0%, 17.3% and 15.6%, respectively. The highest death count was shared by 2021 and 2023; 2020 had the lowest. The 2024 count was 7 deaths higher than 2020.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

West Virginia's shares of national large-truck deaths were 0.7%, 0.8%, 0.7%, 0.8% and 0.7% in those same years. Across the period, its 203 deaths represented 0.7% of the national 27,553 deaths. The highest annual share of state traffic deaths occurred in 2023, at 17.3%.^{[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 West Virginia truck accidents

People in other vehicles accounted for 138 truck accident deaths, or 68.0%, while people in the large truck accounted for 52 deaths, or 25.6%. The row labeled "Pedestrians, bicyclists and other people outside vehicles" recorded 13 deaths, or 6.4%.^{[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 whether someone was outside a vehicle. The other category can include occupants of motor vehicles not in transport, including parked vehicles.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

The trucks involved

The West Virginia records identify 200 large trucks involved in fatal crashes from 2020 through 2024. Truck-tractors accounted for 98 trucks, or 49.0%. The separate category of single-unit and other large trucks recorded 102. Trucks over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating numbered 130, representing 65.0% of the large trucks.^{[1][2][3][4][5][8][7]}

Records also identify 4 large trucks as jackknifed and 2 as carrying hazardous materials. Each figure in this section counts trucks, rather than truck accident deaths or fatal crashes. A crash can involve multiple large trucks, so these vehicle counts describe a different measure from the number of fatal crashes.^{[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 52 in West Virginia during 2020 through 2024, accounting for 25.6% of large-truck crash deaths. These interstate figures use the recorded route classification and a parseable interstate route number. Work-zone records identify 12 deaths in large-truck crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

No interstate segment met the 20-death threshold for the route table. The route table shows 0 in both count columns because no interstate segment met the 20-death threshold; these are not counts for a named route. Large-truck crash deaths and all deaths on a listed route are distinct measures; the route-coded subset does not describe the full road network.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Counties with the most truck accident deaths

Among the listed counties, Raleigh County had the highest truck accident death count, 15, with an average annual rate of 4.1 per 100,000 residents. Monongalia County recorded 14 deaths and a rate of 2.6. Berkeley County and Kanawha County each recorded 13 deaths, with rates of 2.0 and 1.5, respectively.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

Doddridge County recorded 8 deaths and the highest listed rate, 20.7. Cabell County recorded 5 deaths and the lowest listed rate, 1.1. These counties are a supplied subset; small death counts make rates 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 West Virginia compares with the national rate

West Virginia's average annual truck accident death rate was 2.3 per 100,000 residents for 2020 through 2024, compared with the national rate of 1.6. The corresponding death counts were 203 for West Virginia and 27,553 for the United States.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6]}

The denominator sums annual Census Bureau population estimates across the period. It does not use only West Virginia's separately reported 2024 population of 1,767,402. Neither miles driven nor visitors are adjustments in these rates. For a reader searching "truck accident lawyer," the relevant distinction here is between a crash-location death count and a population-based annual rate.^{[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 67 deaths; it means no collision with a motor vehicle in transport, which can include a vehicle stopped in traffic. Angle collisions recorded 54 deaths.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Daytime truck accident deaths numbered 138; nighttime deaths numbered 65. Urban deaths numbered 81, and rural deaths numbered 122. Separately, crash configuration recorded 46 deaths in single-vehicle crashes, 118 in two-vehicle crashes and 39 in crashes involving three or more vehicles. These classifications describe different aspects of crashes.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

Truck occupant deaths by crash configuration

Among people in the large truck who died in West Virginia, 37 were in single-vehicle crashes and 15 were in multiple-vehicle crashes during 2020 through 2024. These figures concern truck occupants specifically, a subset of everyone killed in truck accidents.^{[1][2][3][4][5][7]}

About these figures

West Virginia's FARS records cover fatal motor vehicle traffic crashes on trafficways customarily open to the public, with an occupant or nonoccupant death 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]

The 2020 through 2023 records are Final Files; 2024 uses the revisable Annual Report File. Rates divide period deaths by summed annual Census Bureau estimates, Vintage 2025, then multiply by 100,000. They exclude mileage and visitor adjustments; the separate July 1, 2024 population estimate is not the denominator.^[9][6][7][8]

See also

On related publications

• West Virginia car accident statistics (2020-2024) (caraccidentlawyers.wiki)