Truck Driver Deaths Per Year
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Deaths At Work: Truck Drivers Had Highest Number of Fatal Injuries Compared to Any Other Job. Found that 918 truck drivers and driver sales workers died on the job. A 7 percent increase. Work-related truck driver fatalities rose to their highest level since 2008 last year, according to a report issued by the Department of Labor this week. About 725 heavy vehicle or tractor-trailer. Among vehicle occupants killed in large truck crashes, both the rate of passenger vehicle occupant deaths per truck mile traveled and the rate of large truck occupant deaths per truck mile traveled have declined substantially since 1975. Federal Highway Administration. Highway statistics, 2016. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of. 14.7 deaths per 100,000 Car accidents can be deadly, but taxi drivers also suffer the highest murder rate of any occupation. Ark., crashed and slid into a median, killing the truck's driver. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers transport goods from one location to another. Working as a long-haul truck driver is a lifestyle choice because these drivers can be away from home for days or weeks at a time. How to Become a Heavy or Tractor-trailer Truck Driver Heavy and tractor-trailer. When people are injured or die as the result of an accident that is the fault of a large truck, it can result in large settlements. Semi-truck accidents cost $20 billion per year in accident settlements with about half of that amount awarded to injured victims who suffered a diminished or lost quality of life.
Top StoriesEarly on the morning of Aug. 1, 2006, as Dan Lindner prepared to leave his Illinois home for work, he kissed each of his two boys good bye. But before he could walk out the door, 15-month-old Aidan came waddling over for a second kiss. Not to be outdone by his little brother, Danny, 3, ran to his dad to get a second kiss goodbye of his own.
That was the last time Lindner ever saw his boys alive.
Later that morning, Lindner's wife Angela loaded the boys into the family minivan along with her mother, Dorothy Meller, for a four-hour drive to visit family in Ohio. Soon they got caught in congestion on Interstate 80, slowing down just behind a flat-bed truck.
But behind them, a three-axle Intercontinental 9400 semitrailer didn't slow down in time. That truck plowed into the Lindner's minivan at high speed, crushing it, and slammed into the flat-bed truck ahead, creating a horrific fire. Angela, the boys and her mother were all killed instantly. Clyde Roberts, the 57-year-old truck driver of the 9400, also died at the scene.
Fatal truck accidents like the one that killed Dan Lindner's family are all too common—happening nearly 11 times every single day in this country on average, and killing nearly 4,000 people each year, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
On top of that, more than 100,000 people are injured every year in truck crashes. That's as bad as if a commuter jet crashed every single week of the year, killing everyone on board. And the numbers have been getting worse: Truck-crash fatalities have increased since 2009, as an improving economy leads to more goods being shipped on American highways and more pressure being placed on trucking companies—and drivers—to get the loads delivered on time.
Interviews by CNBC with regulators, industry, lawyers and victims reveal a toxic mix of causes for the deaths. The reasons why are as varied as overly tired drivers, companies that don't screen for problem drivers and government that is slow to force new safety technologies on to American roads. Some blame even goes to passenger vehicles weaving dangerously in and out of the way of heavier, slower-reacting trucks.
What is clear is that, in any other industry, thousands of deaths a year would generate a national outcry. But because trucking deaths are scattered in small numbers across the country, they don't often get covered in the national news—although this summer's fatal crash in New Jersey involving actor Tracy Morgan was a rare exception.
And with trucking as the backbone of a U.S. economy that's struggling to grow, both government and industry are wary of putting too many restrictions in place that could harm the country's ability to do business.
Read More Deadly crash days after Senate panel proposes easing rest rules
The cost of doing business
In some ways, that means trucking fatalities have become the awful human cost of doing business in America.
Today, Dan Lindner said he still thinks about his family's last moments, especially those of his two little boys. 'You never want your child to be scared. You never want your child to be hurt,' he said. 'I hope they were asleep and they didn't know what hit them, and it was painless.'
And he said he will always remember that last kiss. 'I'm fortunate to have that last memory and that last moment with them,' he said. 'I'm lucky that way.'
Lindner's lawyer, Jon Papin, hired a private investigator to dig into the background of the truck driver who killed Lindner's family. They found that the driver had been given seven warnings from his company's safety manager. And he had three prior rear-end accidents—something experts say is a red flag for unsafe driving. 'This is a driver we don't think should have ever been on the road,' said Papin.
Millis Transfer, the freight company that operated the truck in the Lindner family crash, did not respond to multiple requests for comment from CNBC.
Minecraft survival games download free. Trucking is an industry that's straining to keep up with surging demand for goods. The industry trade group American Trucking Associations (ATA) says there are 30,000 to 35,000 unfilled truck driver jobs in the United States, and it expects overall freight tonnage to jump 23.5 percent from 2013 to 2025. To keep up with all that expected growth, the industry says it will need to add nearly 100,000 drivers each year over the coming decade.
Trucking companies have a hard enough time keeping ahold of the drivers they already have. Trucking can be a tough job, with long hours, low pay and extended time away from family. That leads to extremely high driver turnover among large trucking carriers, 92 percent annualized in the first quarter of 2014, ATA says.
All that economic pressure can lead to a very tired workforce. 'Companies are wanting things delivered at a certain time, consumers are wanting them overnight,' said Dan Ramsdell, the national director of the Association of Plaintiff Interstate Trucking Lawyers of America. 'And so it forces drivers to drive over hours because the companies permit that to happen.'
But one industry spokesman says simply cutting driver hours isn't necessarily the solution. 'There will always be risk on our roads, there's no doubt,' said Dave Osiecki, executive vice president of national advocacy at the American Trucking Associations. 'We have to decide as a society: how much risk do we accept?'
Read More Truck drivers not revved up about new safety rules
Osiecki said new rules can provoke unintended consequences. 'We reduce the number of hours a truck driver can operate and work, what will happen is we will put more trucks on the road,' he said. 'So that's a trade-off. That will increase risk.'
Who's to blame?
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Reformers and the trucking industry also disagree on almost everything else about the fatal crash epidemic, including what causes them, who's to blame and what should be done about it.
Plaintiff's attorney Ramsdell said the No. 1 problem with commercial trucks is mechanical: Unsafe brakes. But industry spokesman Osiecki said faulty brakes are not to blame. 'That doesn't cause crashes, people cause crashes,' he said. 'We don't direct our resources towards the human behavior element of this.'
And at the same time, the trucking industry opposes a new set of safety rules requiring drivers to get a mandatory 'restart' to their work week with two consecutive nights of rest between 1 and 5 a.m. The industry argues those rules are putting more drivers on the roads during morning rush hours—when there's greater congestion and more passenger vehicles on the road. 'If you put those trucks in the early morning hours, we've got a bigger risk,' Osiecki said.
But trucking safety advocates disagree. 'That's not accurate,' said John Lannen, executive director of the Truck Safety Coalition. 'The restart provision doesn't tell you when you need to drive and when you need to sleep. All it says is when you have finished all the hours that you're allowed to work, that you should be taking two nights sleep.'
Read More
And the two sides disagree over who's at fault in most of the crashes. 'According to all the data that we've seen, 70 percent of those crashes are initiated by, unfortunately, someone other than the truck driver—the car driver, the SUV driver,' said the trucking industry's Osiecki. 'So we're responsible for about 30 percent of those crashes.'
'That's inaccurate. It's an attempt to do the blame game,' said safety advocate Lannen.
What's more, there are loopholes in truck safety regulations that allow some unscrupulous carriers to evade federal safety rules by simply re-registering with the Department of Transportation under a new name. Studies show so-called chameleon carriers not only avoid penalties and liability by shifting corporate structures, they're also more dangerous than their more stable competitors.
Stopping 'chameleon carriers'
The federal government has launched a massive vetting operation to try to spot chameleon carriers—and shut those companies down if they're guilty of enough safety violations. 'We connect the dots behind the scenes,' said Anne Ferro, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. 'We say in our records, 'are there patterns in this company's operations that show that they actually are sharing an address with a company we've shut down before?'
Read MoreWiping clean the safety records of trucking companies
There are more changes on the horizon that could radically alter the trucking industry—and dramatically increase safety on the roads. Volvo is working on trucks that use radar to detect cars ahead, and brake automatically if the truck gets too close. The company has similar technology that can tell when a driver has drifted out of his lane, and readjust.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz is working on a fully autonomous truck—a long-haul road robot that would need almost no input from its operator.
Read MoreTechnology that could save you from a truck wreck
Of course, these developments will come far too late to save Dan Lindner's family. 'You can't take the trucks off the road,' Lindner said. 'You can't stop that commerce. But you need to do it safely—you need to do it properly.'
Lindner sued Millis Transfer, the company that operated the truck that killed his family. The legal website Avvo reports that he settled out of court for $13 million.
Lindner remarried in 2010, and he and his new wife had a baby girl—named Madeline—just 17 days before he sat down to talk to CNBC. Lindner placed a small white statue of two baby angels by Madeline's crib. 'She has the looks from her brothers,' Lindner said. 'Her nose, her lips and her chin, definitely—she gets from the two angels that are looking down on her.
'I'm a fortunate person,' Lindner said. 'I mean, in an odd sense, I'm a fortunate person.'
—By CNBC's Eamon Javers and Jennifer Schlesinger. Follow him on Twitter: @eamonjavers. Follow her on Twitter
Looking for the latest driving stats and trends? We've got you covered.
Road Safety Statistics
Understand how speeding affects road safety and get the most recent national data on car accidents, pedestrian safety and winter driving.
Speeding Statistics
- Speed-related crashes cost Americans $40.4 billion each year. (Insurance Information Institute, 2019)
- For more than two decades, speeding has been involved in approximately one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Teens are more likely than older drivers to speed and allow shorter following distances. (Texas A&M Transportation Institute, 2019)
- Over 50% of the five million yearly car crashes in the United States are caused by aggressive drivers, with speeding being the most prevalent contributor to this statistic. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- Speeding killed 10,111 people in the US in 2016, accounting for more than a quarter (27%) of all traffic fatalities. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Speed was a factor in 31% of US teen driver fatalities. (NHTSA, 2018)
- 42% of the surveyed drivers said they don’t consider going 10 mph over the speed limit to be speeding. Another 10% said they don’t think a 20 mph increase is speeding. (Everquote, 2016)
- Drivers speed at least 10 mph more than half of the time. (Everquote, 2016)
- National data shows that even a 10 mph speed increase ups the risk of a crash by 9.1%. (Fortune, 2016)
- Drivers ages 15-20 had the highest representation in speed related fatal crashes (32% and 22%) compared to any other age group in 2016. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Teens do not consider driving 5 to 10 miles above the speed limit to be dangerous. (Texas A&M Transportation Institute, 2019)
- Speeding continues to be the number one cited driver-related factor in highway fatal crashes. (Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2017)
Car Accident Statistics
- Around 2 million drivers in car accidents experience permanent injuries every year. (Driver Knowledge, 2019)
- Crash risk is highest during the first year drivers have their license. (CDC, 2018)
- Out of nearly six million vehicular crashes that occur every year in the U.S., approximately 22% are weather-related. (FHWA, 2017)
- Tailgating is a contributing factor in more than one third of all crashes on the road. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- Driver-related factors (i.e., error, impairment, fatigue, and distraction) were present in almost 90% of crashes. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Certain driver performance errors, including committing a right-of-way error, sudden or improper braking or stopping, and being unfamiliar with a vehicle or roadway, increased the risk of crashing by hundreds of times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- In 2016, there were 6,296,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes in the US. (Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, 2018)
- About 10 million or more crashes go unreported each year. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2018)
Agressive Driving Statistics
- 66% of traffic fatalities are caused by aggressive driving. (SafeMotorist.com, 2019)
- 37% of aggressive driving incidents involve a firearm. (SafeMotorist.com, 2019)
- Male and younger drivers ages 19-39 were significantly more likely to engage in aggressive behaviors. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2016)
- Half of drivers who are on the receiving end of an aggressive behavior, such as horn honking, a rude gesture, or tailgating admit to responding with aggressive behavior themselves. (SafeMotorist.com, 2019)
- 2% of drivers admit to trying to run an aggressor off the road. (SafeMotorist.com, 2019)
Pedestrian Safety Statistics
- Pedestrians have a 90% chance of surviving a crash at 30 KPH or less and only a 50% chance at higher speeds. (AutoInsurance.org, 2018)
- About half of the deaths resulting from red-light running each year are pedestrians and occupants of other vehicles who are hit. (Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, 2018)
- Distractions are the number three cause [of pedestrian fatalities], particularly by electronic devices. (Active Transportation Alliance, 2018)
- A pedestrian struck at 20 miles an hour has a 10% chance of dying. If they are struck at 40 miles an hour, they have an 80% chance of dying. (Active Transportation Alliance, 2018)
- 74% of pedestrian fatalities happen at night, and 72% of those killed were not crossing at intersections. (Active Transportation Alliance, 2018)
- 15% of pedestrians killed each year are hit by a drunk driver, while 34% of pedestrians killed are legally drunk themselves. (Active Transportation Alliance, 2018)
- On average, a pedestrian was killed every 1.5 hours in traffic crashes in 2016. (NHTSA, 2017)
Winter Driving Statistics
- 17% of all vehicle crashes occur during winter conditions. (NHTSA, 2019)
- Weather-related vehicle accidents kill more people annually than large-scale weather disasters. (The Weather Channel, 2018)
- It takes up to 10 times longer to stop on snow and ice than it does on dry pavement. (Geico Insurance, 2018)
- Freeway speeds are reduced by 3% to 13% in light snow and by 5% to 40% in heavy snow. (FHWA, 2019)
- Each year, 24% of weather-related vehicle crashes occur on snowy, slushy or icy pavement and 15% happen during snowfall or sleet. (FHWA, 2019)
- Deicing pays for itself a mere 25 minutes after salt is spread. (Safe Winter Roads, 2019)
- More than 116,000 Americans are injured and over 1,300 are killed on snowy, slushy or icy pavement every winter. (Safe Winter Roads, 2019)
- While four-wheel traction systems can help a car get moving in snow and ice and provide extra control when turning, they don't help it to stop much faster than a front- or rear-wheel-drive car. (US News & World Report, 2018)
- Over 70% of the nation's roads are located in snowy regions, which receive more than five inches (or 13 cm) average snowfall annually. (FHWA, 2019)
Child Safety Statistics
- Heatstroke is one of the leading causes of non-crash-related fatalities among US children. (NHTSA, 2018)
- An estimated 267 deaths per year are caused when a vehicle backs up onto a person and 31% of these deaths are children under 5 years of age. (Safe Kids Worldwide, 2018)
- Children under the age of 5 are at the highest risk for backover injury or death. (KidsAndCars.org, 2018)
- Youths 16-24 have the lowest seat belt use rate. (Safe Ride 4 Kids, 2018)
- Frontal airbags saved the lives of 2,756 occupants age 13 and older in 2016. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Over 60% of backover accidents involve a truck or SUV. (KidsAndCars.org, 2018)
- An outside temperature in the mid-60s can cause a vehicle’s inside temperature to rise above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The inside temperature of your car can rise almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit within the first 10 minutes. (NHTSA, 2018)
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Driving Fatalities
Learn the main reasons that cause deadly motor vehicle crashes.
General Stats on Driving-Related Fatalities
- Every year, roughly 1.3 million people die in car accidents worldwide – an average of 3,287 deaths per day. (SaferAmerica, 2019)
- 58% of police-reported fatal car accidents in the US involved only one vehicle. (SaferAmerica, 2019)
- Road traffic crashes cause up to 50 million injuries globally each year. (WHO, 2018)
- The number of annual road traffic deaths has reached 1.35 million. (WHO, 2018)
- For 2016, US traffic fatalities increased by an estimated additional 6% totaling more than 40,000 for the first time since 2007. Injuries also jumped up by 7% from 2015, estimated at 4.6 million. (National Safety Council, 2017)
- 37,133 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2017, down 1.8% from 37,806 in 2016, the first decline since 2014. (NHTSA, 2018)
- More than 900 people a year die and nearly 2,000 are injured as a result of vehicles running red lights. (Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, 2018)
- Car occupant deaths have declined 46% since 1975, while pickup occupant deaths have risen 25% and SUV occupant deaths are more than 10 times as high. (IIHS, 2018)
- Boys are more likely to suffer fatal MVC injuries than girls; 61% of fatalities are among boys and 39% among girls. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Frontal impacts accounted for 54% of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in 2016. Side impacts accounted for another 25% of passenger vehicle occupant deaths. (IIHS, 2018)
- A total of 7,488 passenger vehicle occupants died in rollover crashes in 2016. 28% of these did not involve any other impact. (IIHS, 2018)
- Since 1978, driver death rates for single-vehicle rollover crashes have declined across all passenger vehicle types, particularly for SUVs. (IIHS, 2018)
Fatalities by location
- Death rates from road traffic accidents are three times higher in low-income countries than in high-income countries. (WHO, 2018)
- Nationwide, 50% of motor vehicle deaths in 2016 occurred in rural areas. (IIHS, 2016)
- While only 21% of the population lives in rural areas, this is where 60% of crash fatalities occurred in 2016. (NHTSA, 2018)
Fatalities by type of road user
- More than half of all road traffic deaths are among pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists. (WHO, 2018)
- Pedestrian deaths accounted for 16% of all traffic fatalities in 2016. (NHTSA, 2018)
Fatalities by gender
- 74% of passenger vehicle occupants killed in 2016 were drivers; 71% of these were males. (IIHS, 2018)
- Male drivers were involved in 34% of fatal crashes in 2016 while female drivers were involved in 12%. (USDOT, 2017)
Fatalities by age
- Globally, car accidents are the leading cause of death among young adults ages 15-29 – and the 9th leading cause of death for all people. (SaferAmerica, 2019)
- Road traffic crashes are the 8th leading cause of deaths for people of all ages. (WHO, 2018)
- Young adults aged 15-44 account for more than half of all road traffic deaths. (SaferAmerica, 2019)
- Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for US teens. (CDC, 2018)
- In 2016, teenagers ages 14-19 years accounted for 74% of crash fatalities among children and died at more than 6 times the rate of children under 14. (Safe Kids Worldwide, 2018)
- Per mile driven, teen drivers ages 16 to 19 are nearly three times more likely than drivers aged 20 and older to be in a fatal crash. (CDC, 2018)
DUI/Impaired Driving Statistics
See how alcohol, drugs and various distractions affect our ability to focus on the road.
Distracted Driving Statistics
- Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that's like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed. (NHTSA, 2018)
- One in three teens who text say they have done so while driving. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Dialing a phone number while driving increases a teen's risk of crashing by six times. (NHTSA, 2018)
- One in four drivers used a cell phone right before they were involved in a crash. (Chicago Tribune, 2017)
- 96% of surveyed drivers consider themselves a safe driver, but 56% admit to using the phone while driving. (Everquote, 2016)
- Dialing a phone is the most dangerous distraction, increasing a driver's chance of crashing by 12 times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Reading or writing increased the risk of crashing by 10 times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Driving while crying or visibly angry increased risk of crashing by 10 times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Using hands-free devices is still 4 times more distracting than talking to a passenger. (Driver's Alert, 2017)
- Over 80% of drivers admit to blatantly hazardous behavior while driving, such as changing clothes, steering with a foot, painting nails, or even shaving. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- The largest cause of distracted driving crashes—coming in at 62%—is a driver being lost in thought or letting their mind wander. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- 20% of drivers say they’ve styled their hair from behind the wheel. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- A manual transmission vehicles double the chances of distracted driving crashes caused by food consumption. (Drive-Safely.net, 2019)
- Cell phone apps are one reason behind the increase of distracted driving, as apps like Snapchat record the speed of a vehicle, the navigation app Waze rewards drivers for reporting traffic conditions in the moment, and games like Pokemon Go encourages drivers to search for virtual creatures along roads and highways. (New York Times, 2016)
- Distracted driving in the US may be under-reported because many state crash-report forms don’t have a field or code for many forms of distraction. (National Safety Council, 2017)
- Men are more likely than women to engage in distracting behavior; more than twice as many men watched a video. (Consumer Reports, 2017)
Texting and Driving Accident Statistics
- 1 out of 3 people text while driving. (Driver Knowledge, 2019)
- Texting while driving increases the risk of crashing by 23 times. (NHTSA, 2018)
- 47 of the 50 US states ban texting while driving, and 15 states ban drivers from hand-held phone use. (FCC, 2017)
- Texting increases your chances of rear-ending someone by a multiple of 7. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2018)
- While the maximum amount of time a driver can safely divert their attention from the road from is two seconds, it takes a driver five seconds – on average – to send a text message. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- Each day, 11 teens die in crashes caused by texting and driving. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- 82% of American teens have a cell phone. 52% of these teens note that they talk on the phone while driving and 32% text on the road. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- 61% of drivers say texting is only acceptable if they have a hands-free, voice-activated option; 34% say if it’s an emergency; 24% say never. (Consumer Reports, 2017)
Drunk Driving Statistics
- Drunk driving costs the United States $199 billion every year (MADD, 2017)
- Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for more than 30% of all driving fatalities each year. (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, 2017)
- Men are nearly twice as likely as women to have been intoxicated behind the wheel or involved in fatal motor vehicle traffic accidents. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016.)
- Every day in America, another 30 people die as a result of drunk driving crashes. That’s one person every 48 minutes. (NHTSA, 2018)
- Every day about 800 people are injured in a drunk driving crash. (NHTSA, 2017)
- The rate of under 21 drunk driving fatalities per 100,000 population has declined 29% over the past decade. (NHTSA, 2017)
- About one in three traffic deaths in the United States involve a driver with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or higher. (CDC, 2019)
- Every day about 800 people are injured in a drunk-driving crash. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2016)
- Every day in America, another 29 people die as a result of drunk-driving crashes. That’s one person every 50 minutes. (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2017)
- In 2017, among people of ages 16 or older, 21.4 million drove after drinking alcohol. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017)
Impaired Driving Statistics
- After alcohol, marijuana is the drug most often linked to drugged driving. (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2016)
- On average, three in five people will be involved in a crash due to impaired driving in their lifetime. (National Center for Statistics and Analysis, 2017)
- No distraction rivaled the risk involved with driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol, which multiplied crash rates by 36 times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- In 2017, among people of ages 16 or older, 12.8 million drove after using illicit drugs. (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2017)
- The number of alcohol-positive drivers killed in crashes who also tested positive for drugs increased 16% from 2006 to 2016. (Governors Highway Safety Association, 2017)
- Among drug-positive drivers killed in crashes in 2016; 4% tested positive for both marijuana and opioids, 16% for opioids only, 38% for marijuana only, and 42% for other drugs. (Governors Highway Safety Association, 2017)
- The percentage of traffic deaths in which at least one driver tested positive for drugs has nearly doubled over a decade. (USA Today, 2016)
Fatigued Driving Statistics
- 35% of U.S. drivers sleep less than the recommended seven hours daily. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2016)
- Drivers who decide to drive sleep deprived are responsible for more than 6,400 U.S. deaths annually. (National Sleep Foundation, 2018)
- Being awake for 18 hours straight makes you drive like you have a blood alcohol level of .05. (National Sleep Foundation, 2018)
- Drivers missing 2-3 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period more than quadrupled their risk of a crash compared to drivers getting the recommended seven hours of sleep. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2016)
- If a driver falls asleep for just four seconds while travelling at a speed of 100 km/h the car will have gone 111 metres without a driver in control. (Transport Accident Commission, 2018)
- Driving while sleepy is associated with being approximately two-and-a-half times as likely to have a motor vehicle accident. (Sleep, Journal of the Sleep Research Society, 2017)
- Men (17%) are three times as likely as women (5%) to say they have fallen asleep at the wheel. (AA-Populus motoring panel survey, 2018)
- Drivers who miss between one to two hours of the recommended seven hours of sleep in a 24-hour period nearly double their risk for a crash. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2016)
- While 97% of drivers view drowsy driving as a completely unacceptable behavior that is a serious threat to their safety, nearly one in three admit that at least once in the past month they drove when they were so tired they had a hard time keeping their eyes open. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2016)
- 9.5% of all crashes involved drowsy drivers, based on the portion of time the drivers’ eyes were closed in the minutes before a crash. The portion grows to 10.8% in more severe crashes. (AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, 2016)
Teen and Senior Driving Statistics
See how age influences motor vehicle accidents and fatalities.
Teen Driving Statistics
- Teens age 15 – 20 without driver education are responsible for 91% of teen driver crashes. (Oregon DOT, 2018)
- In the US, the fatal crash rate per mile driven for 16-19 year-olds is nearly 3 times the rate for drivers ages 20 and over. And the fatal crash rate per mile driven is nearly twice as high for 16-17 year-olds as it is for 18-19 year-olds. (IIHS, 2017)
- The most common types of teen crashes involve left hand turns, rear-end events and running off the road. (DriveTeam, 2017)
- Speed was a factor in 31% of US teen driver fatalities. (NHTSA, 2016)
- When a teen driving has an additional passenger with them, the risk of them getting into a fatal car crash doubles. If two or more passengers are present, the odds are five times as likely. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- 53% of motor vehicle crash deaths among teenagers occurred on Friday, Saturday or Sunday.(IIHS, 2016)
- 20% of female teens and 24% of male teens who crash say they were distracted by a passenger before the crash occurred.(DriveTeam, 2017)
- New drivers are eight times more likely to crash or have a close call in the first three months after getting a license than during the last three months on a learner's permit. (Journal of Adolescent Health, 2018)
- Student-drivers steadily improved in the last three months before getting their driver's licenses; by the end, teenage girls and boys alike were as safe as the adults in their rates of crashing or risky driving. (Journal of Adolescent Health, 2018)
- After they had a license to drive independently, however, teenagers' rates of crashes and near misses shot up—and while girls' crash rates then fell back, boys continued to drive unsafely. (Journal of Adolescent Health, 2018)
Senior Driving Statistics
- Seniors are safe drivers compared to other age groups, since they often reduce risk of injury by wearing safety belts, observing speed limits, and not drinking and driving. (AAA, 2019)
- 18% of all traffic fatalities in 2016 were among people 65 years and older. (NHTSA, 2017)
- Per mile traveled, fatal crash rates increase beginning at age 75 and rise sharply after age 80. This is mainly due to increased risk of injury and medical complications, rather than an increased tendency to get into crashes. (AAA, 2019)
- With the exception of teen drivers, seniors have the highest crash death rate per mile driven, even though they drive fewer miles than younger people. (AAA, 2019)
- Since older drivers are more fragile, their fatality rates are 17 times higher than those of 25- to 64-year-olds. (AAA, 2019)
- The rate of fatalities per capita among older people has decreased 43% since 1975. (IIHS, 2018)
- More than 3.5 million Americans 85 and older currently hold a driver’s license. (Consumer Reports, 2017)
- Elderly drivers are more likely to hurt themselves than to put others at risk. (EU Mobility & Transport, 2019)
- The fatality rate for drivers over 75 is more than five times higher than the average, and their injury rate is twice as high. (EU Mobility & Transport, 2019)
- Elderly drivers make up for physical disadvantages through their driving experience. (EU Mobility & Transport, 2019)
- Older drivers are over-represented in crashes at intersections, where typically the older driver turns against oncoming traffic with right of way on the main road. (EU Mobility & Transport, 2019)
- Older drivers are'under-represented' in crashes involving loss of control or collisions due to speeding, risky overtaking or driving under the influence of alcohol. (EU Mobility & Transport, 2019)
Looking for more insight on teen driving behavior?
Driving-Tests asked 1,400 teenagers how they feel about getting behind the wheel.Check out the'Inside the Mind of Teenage Drivers' report for the latest data.
Commercial Driving Statistics
See what role truck, buses and taxis play in our lives.
Trucking Statistics
- About 130,000 individuals are injured each year in truck collisions. (TruckAccidents.org, 2019)
- The average age of a trucker is 49. (Business Insider, 2016)
- 3,864 US fatal crashes involved trucks over 10,000 lbs. (FMCSA, 2016)
- 4317 people were killed in accidents involving large trucks in the US. (FMCSA, 2016)
- Approximately 61% of all fatal US crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural areas, 27% occurred on Interstate highways, and 15% fell into both categories by occurring on rural Interstate highways. (FMCSA, 2016)
- 37% of all fatal crashes, 23% of all injury crashes, and 20% of all property-damage-only crashes involving large trucks occurred at night (6:00 pm to 6:00 am). (FMCSA, 2016)
- 84% of fatal crashes and 88% of nonfatal crashes involving large trucks occurred on weekdays (Monday through Friday). (FMCSA, 2016)
- 27% of US work zone fatal crashes and 8% of work zone injury crashes involved at least one large truck. (FMCSA, 2016)
- Hazardous materials cargo was present on 4% of the large trucks involved in fatal US crashes and 2% of those in nonfatal crashes. (FMCSA, 2016)
- There are 3.5 million truck drivers in the US., of those, 5.8% (just over 200,000) are women. (Business Insider, 2016)
- 80% of all cargo in America is transported by the trucking industry, four times as much as air (8%), pipeline (6%), rail (4%), and water (2%) combined. Business Insider, 2016
- Truck drivers log 432 billion miles annually. (Business Insider, 2016)
- Truck drivers work 70 hours in an 8-day work week before getting a day off vs. 47 hours per week for an average American. (Business Insider, 2016)
- US trucking consumes 54 billions gallons of fuel per year. (Business Insider, 2016)
- Truck driver is the most-common occupation in 29 states. (Business Insider, 2016)
- In 2017, the average annual pay for a US truck driver was $42,480 per year. (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2018)
Busing Statistics
Deaths Per Year Usa
- Every school bus on the road eliminates approximately 36 cars. (American Schoolbus Council, 2019)
- Total annual car mileage saved by students riding school buses is 62,399,998,800. (American Schoolbus Council, 2019)
- The number of cars needed to transport students currently riding on all school buses in the U.S. is 17,333,333. (American Schoolbus Council, 2019)
- Students are about 70 times more likely to get to school safely when taking a school bus instead of traveling by car. (NHTSA, 2019)
- Some 480,000 school buses carry 25 million children — more than half of America’s schoolchildren — each day, making the school bus industry the largest form of mass transit in the United States. (American Schoolbus Council, 2019)
- Almost 1/3 of those who died taking the bus to school – were killed while they were approaching or leaving the bus. (NHTSA, 2016)
- Although four to six school-age children die each year on school transportation vehicles, that’s less than 1% of all traffic fatalities nationwide. (NHTSA, 2019)
- As of 2016, there are approximately 687,200 U.S. employed bus drivers. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017)
Taxis/Ridesharing/Limosine Statistics
- Taxi drivers suffer the highest murder rate of any occupation. (CBS News, 2019)
- The median annual wage for taxi drivers, ride-hailing drivers, and chauffeurs was $24,880 in May 2017. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017)
- About 1 in 4 US taxi drivers, ride-hailing drivers, and chauffeurs worked part time in 2016. (US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017)
- There are 3 million Uber drivers worldwide. Of these drivers, 750,000 are based in the US, with the remaining 2.25 million spread over the rest of the world. (Uber, 2018)
- In the U.S., the average taxi logs 70,000 miles each year. (New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission, 2018)
- The average salary for a US professional taxi driver is $35,000. (Salary.com, 2019)
- The majority of Uber drivers use the platform to supplement their main source of income. Nearly 50% make less than $99 per month, and 84% make less than $500. A mere 2% on the other hand make more than $1,500, and none break the $2,000-mark. (Earnest, 2017)
Vehicle Safety Statistics
Learn how various automotive safety equipment, such as searbelts and airbags, saves lives.
Seatbelts Statistics
- People not wearing a seatbelt are 30 times more likely to be ejected from the vehicle during a crash. (Driver Knowledge, 2019)
- Men are 10% less likely to wear seat belts than women. (Virtual Drive, 2019)
- Adults aged 18-34 are less likely to wear seat belts than those 35 or older. (Virtual Drive, 2019)
- With 45% to 60% effectiveness, seat belts are the single most effective means of reducing the risk of death in a crash and have saved nearly 300,000 lives since 1975 in the U.S. alone. (AAA, 2019)
- Seat belt use in passenger vehicles saved an estimated 14,668 lives in the US. (NCSA, 2016)
- The national use rate of seat belts in the US is at 90.1%. (NHTSA, 2018)
- 48% of passenger vehicle occupants killed in the US were unrestrained. (NHTSA, 2016)
- Among 2016 passenger vehicle occupant fatalities where restraint use was known, the 13-to-15 age group had the highest percentage of unrestrained occupants (62%), followed by the 25-to-34 and 21-to-24 age groups, at 59% and 58% unrestrained, respectively. (NHTSA, 2017)
- When restraint use was known, 52% of male fatalities and 40% of female fatalities were unrestrained. (NHTSA, 2017)
- Among killed passenger vehicle occupants with known restraint use, 47% of those in the front row and 57% of those in the second row of seats were unrestrained. (NHTSA, 2017)
- Restraint use differed by vehicle type: 60% of drivers of pickup trucks, 53% of SUV drivers, 42% of passenger car drivers, and 37% of van drivers who were killed were unrestrained. (NHTSA, 2017)
How Many Truck Driver Deaths Per Year
Airbags Statistics
- The fatality-reducing effectiveness for airbags is 14% when no seatbelt is used and 11% when a seatbelt is used in conjunction with airbags. Side airbags, which protect the head, chest and abdomen, reduce driver deaths by an estimated 37%. (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2019)
- Airbags are 14% effective in preventing fatalities. (Automobile Magazine, 2016)
- In 2016, an estimated 2,756 lives were saved due to the use of frontal airbags in passenger cars. (Statista, 2019)
- From 1987 to 2015, frontal air bags saved 44,869 lives in the US. (NHTSA, 2016)
- Studies indicate that there may be a correlation between height, weight and driver injuries from airbags. Shorter (under 160cms) and lighter (under 55kgs) drivers who sit closer to the steering wheel suffer more injuries from airbags. (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, 2017)
- In general, European airbags hold 35 litres of gas propellant and fully inflate within 25 milliseconds, which means that they have to expand at anything up to 160 mph. American air bags, usually holding 60 litres of gas, have to inflate even faster. (The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, 2017)
Tow Truck Driver Deaths Per Year
Other Vehicle Safety Equipment Statistics
Tow Truck Driver Deaths Per Year In Us
- Systems with automatic braking reduce rear-end crashes by about 40% on average, while forward collision warning alone cuts them by 23%. (IIHS, 2016)
- The analyses show that forward collision warning alone reduces rear-end crashes by 23%, while forward collision warning with autobrake reduces them by 39%. (IIHS, 2016)
- The rate of rear-end crashes with injuries decreases by 42% with forward collision warning with autobrake. (IIHS, 2016)
- Vehicle owners found lane departure warning more annoying than other crash avoidance technologies. (IIHS, 2016)