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Truck crashes taking more lives on the road

Missouri drivers are facing an increasingly dangerous environment on the road when they get behind the wheel, according to statistics released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. For example, many drivers are nervous about traveling alongside large trucks and buses, as the size and weight wait of these vehicles is overwhelming in comparison to a car, let alone a cyclist or a pedestrian. From 2015 to 2016, the number of fatalities due to truck accidents increased by 6 percent, as the number of trucks involved in these deadly crashes went up by 3 percent. Some of the most serious accidents took several lives.

This upswing in deadly truck accidents is not an anomaly; on the contrary, it reflects an ongoing upswing in the number of fatalities caused by crashes involving large trucks and buses. This has reversed an earlier trend of improved safety and fewer deaths. Between 2005 and 2009, deaths due to truck crashes declined by 32 percent. However, in the intervening years, most of those gains have been lost. Fatalities have risen 28 percent from 2009 to 2016, including the 6 percent gain between 2015 and 2016. In 2016, 4,317 people died in accidents involving large trucks, while in 2015, 4,094 people lost their lives in these types of crashes.

Of course, truck accidents involving fatalities are a small minority of all crashes. Injury crashes are also on the rise. In 2016, there were 104,000 truck accidents that led to 145,000 injuries. This represents an increase of almost 30,000 injuries and 20,000 accidents over the prior year.

Truck accidents can have devastating consequences for the people involved, especially when they were injured through no fault of their own. People who have been hurt in a motor vehicle crash might work with a personal injury lawyer to pursue compensation for the losses they have suffered, including lost wages and medical bills.