Trucking Deaths and Injuries by the Numbers: BLS and FMCSA Data

In 2024, 798 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers died from injuries on the job in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. By our calculation, that was about 15.7% of all 5,070 fatal work injuries that year, and about three out of four of those driver deaths were transportation incidents.

This page pulls the most recent federal numbers on trucking deaths and injuries into one place. It uses two official sources: the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (2024 data, released February 2026) and FMCSA's Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts (2022 data, the most recent edition, published September 2025). Every figure below is shown exactly as the agency reports it, and anything we calculated is labeled.

What are the headline findings?

Five numbers sum up the risk of the job:

1. 798 deaths in 2024. BLS counted 798 fatal work injuries among heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in 2024, down from 823 in 2023. That is 15.7% of all U.S. work deaths (our calculation: 798 ÷ 5,070).
2. Most deaths happen on the road. Transportation incidents caused 606 of the 798 deaths in 2024, or 75.9% (our calculation).
3. A rate nearly 8 times the average. The BLS occupation group "driver/sales workers and truck drivers" had a fatal injury rate of 25.7 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers in 2024. The rate for all workers was 3.3, so the driver rate was about 7.8 times higher (our calculation: 25.7 ÷ 3.3).
4. 1,097 truck occupants killed in crashes. FMCSA reports that 5,936 people died in crashes involving large trucks in 2022. Of those, 1,097 were occupants of the large truck, including 914 drivers.
5. Long recoveries. For the combined 2023–2024 period, BLS estimates 87,610 injury and illness cases with days away from work among heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers in private industry. The median case kept a driver off work for 21 days, compared with 8 days for all occupations.

How many truck drivers die on the job each year?

Between 766 and 934 heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers died from work injuries in each year from 2020 through 2024. The count peaked in 2022 and has fallen for two years since.

Table 1. Fatal work injuries, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, 2020–2024

Source: BLS CFOI Table 3. *Share calculated by dividing the truck driver count by the all-worker count for the same year.

For context, the broader BLS group of transportation and material moving occupations had 1,391 fatal work injuries in 2024, the most of any major occupational group. Its fatality rate was 12.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers, down from 13.6 in 2023.

How do truck drivers die at work?

Transportation incidents, mainly roadway crashes, account for most deaths. The rest are spread across violent acts, contact with objects and equipment, and exposure to harmful substances or environments.

Table 2. Heavy and tractor-trailer truck driver deaths by event, 2024

Source: BLS CFOI Table A-5, 2024. *Shares are our calculation. BLS does not publish counts that fail its publication criteria, so the rows do not add up to 798.

Two details stand out. Contact incidents, where a driver is struck by or caught in objects or equipment, caused 75 deaths. And by total count, 798 was higher than any other detailed occupation in the 2024 BLS occupation table. Construction laborers were next among detailed occupations, with 334.

How many people die in crashes involving large trucks?

FMCSA counts every death in a crash that involved a large truck, not just truck drivers. In 2022, that total was 5,936 people. The large majority, 82% according to FMCSA, were not occupants of the large truck, but the number of truck occupants killed rose in both 2021 and 2022.

Table 3. Deaths in crashes involving large trucks, 2020–2022

Source: FMCSA, Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2022, Trends Table 29 and People Table 15. A large truck is a truck with a gross vehicle weight rating over 10,000 pounds.

Other 2022 findings from the FMCSA report:

• Of about 503,000 police-reported crashes involving large trucks, 5,279 were fatal and 114,000 caused injuries.
• About 54% of fatal large truck crashes happened in rural areas, and 27% happened on Interstate highways.
• 39% of fatal large truck crashes happened at night, between 6:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.
• Seat belts mattered. Of the 1,069 large truck occupants in fatal crashes who were not wearing a belt, 482 (45%) were killed. Of the 5,417 who were belted, 423 (8%) were killed.

How many truck drivers are injured each year?

Injuries far outnumber deaths. FMCSA estimates that about 160,000 people were injured in large truck crashes in 2022, including about 35,000 large truck drivers and 6,000 large truck passengers. These injury figures are estimates from NHTSA's national crash sample, and FMCSA reports them rounded to the thousands.

Workplace injury data from BLS show how long those injuries can last. For 2023 and 2024 combined, private employers reported 87,610 cases with days away from work among heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers. The median was 21 days off, and 38,430 of those cases, about 43.9% (our calculation), lasted 31 days or more. Across all occupations, the median was 8 days and about 28.3% of cases lasted 31 days or more (our calculation: 519,700 ÷ 1,834,600).

Methodology

Fatal work injuries. Deaths and event types come from the BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI) for 2024, released February 19, 2026. CFOI counts fatal work injuries in the United States, including those of wage and salary workers and the self-employed, and is compiled by BLS in cooperation with state, New York City, District of Columbia and federal agencies. It excludes illness-related deaths unless an injury event led to them. Occupation is coded with the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC); "heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers" is SOC 53-3032.

Fatality rate. BLS does not publish a separate 2024 rate for SOC 53-3032. The rate we report, 25.7, is the published rate for the broader group "driver/sales workers and truck drivers" (SOC 53-3030), which also includes light truck drivers and driver/sales workers. BLS calculates it as fatal injuries ÷ total hours worked × 200,000,000, which equals the number of deaths per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers (40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year). Hours come from the Current Population Survey.

Crash deaths and injuries. Crash figures come from FMCSA's Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2022, which draws on NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System for deaths and NHTSA's Crash Report Sampling System for injury estimates. The 2022 edition is the latest FMCSA has published. FMCSA counts do not show who caused a crash.

Nonfatal injuries. Days-away-from-work figures come from BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses Table R66, which covers private industry for the combined 2023–2024 reference period. BLS notes that this survey covers wage and salary workers only, while the fatality census also covers the self-employed, so the two data sets are not directly comparable.

Our calculations. Shares and ratios labeled "our calculation" were computed by dividing the published figures shown and rounding to one decimal place. We did not adjust, project or combine any agency figures beyond that.

How to cite this data

Suggested citation: "Trucking Deaths and Injuries by the Numbers," based on BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (2024) and FMCSA Large Truck and Bus Crash Facts 2022, reviewed September 30, 2026, /life-insurance/truckers/trucking-deaths-and-injuries-by-the-numbers.

Please also credit BLS and FMCSA as the original sources. We will update this page when BLS releases 2025 fatality data and FMCSA publishes a newer crash facts edition.

What do these numbers mean for your life insurance?

The numbers show two risks: a small chance of dying on the job, and a much larger chance of an injury that keeps you off the road for weeks. Both matter to your family's finances.

• Don't count on work coverage alone. Coverage through a carrier usually depends on staying employed there. Our guide on what happens to your life insurance if you stop driving explains what ends and what you can keep.
• Be upfront about your job. Life insurance applications commonly ask about your occupation and driving history. An agent can tell you how different insurers look at commercial driving before you apply. Our life insurance guide for truck drivers covers what underwriters ask.
• Think about time off the road, not just death. Some policies offer riders that pay part of the death benefit early after a qualifying terminal, chronic or critical illness. Learn how these work in living benefits for truck drivers.
• Size coverage to your household. Use our life insurance calculator or read how much life insurance you need.

More guides for drivers are in our truck driver life insurance hub.