“Recently released crash and fatality data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration underscores dangerous and deadly trends gripping the nation’s roads.
According to NHTSA, there was a 2 percent increase in fatalities in crashes involving large trucks and a 3.7 percent increase in injuries from 2021 to 2022, the most recent year of complete data. There were 168,816 large truck crashes in 2022, resulting in 76,550 injuries and 5,936 fatalities.
But even more alarming is the dramatic increase over the most recent 10-year period — a 50.5 percent increase nationally in fatalities involving large trucks from 2012 to 2022.
Despite the dangers already on the roads, corporate interests are working with members of Congress to find a way around the 80,000-pound federal weight limit, seeking to put far heavier semi-trucks on our roads.”