What should you know about 2017 truck accidents?

When you read the paper or watch the news, you may notice that many truck accidents take place on the roads of Louisiana. You may be interested in the crash statistics from 2017 and what they reveal about trends in truck accidents.

You may think that truck collisions are the most common kind of accident that happens on Louisiana roads. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, trucks played a role in 9.6 percent of the fatal collisions that took place in Louisiana in 2017. These crashes resulted in the deaths of 30 people. Between 2016 and 2017, the number of people killed in truck accidents across the country increased. While truck accidents caused the deaths of 4,369 people in 2016, they resulted in the deaths of 4,761 people in 2017.

Because of the higher speed limits, you may think that most truck accidents occur on highways. However, only about 27 percent of collisions involving large trucks took place on interstate highways. The other 73 percent took place on non-interstate roads. Additionally, most collisions in 2017 happened during weekdays during daylight hours. Rural roads were also the scenes of most fatal truck crashes, with 58 percent of collisions taking place outside the city. Only 42 percent of accidents happened in urban areas.

While you may think that alcohol plays a large role in fatal accidents, this was not necessarily the case in 2017. Only about three percent of truckers had a blood alcohol concentration higher than the legal limit. Additionally, most of the truckers involved in fatal crashes did not have prior DWI convictions; only 1 percent of truck drivers had received a DWI at some point before the collision.

This information is intended to educate. It should not be used in place of legal advice.