Key Takeaways
- Georgia truck-crash injury claims must be filed within two years under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33; cargo-damage or property claims have four years under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-32.
- According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, large trucks often weigh 20–30 times as much as passenger vehicles, and bumper-height mismatch drives underride collisions that cause disproportionately severe injuries.
- The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires interstate commercial carriers to maintain at least $750,000 in liability insurance for general freight — far more than passenger-vehicle minimums.
- Both driver and motor carrier can be sued in Georgia under respondeat superior and the carrier's independent duties to inspect, train, and supervise — a key distinction from ordinary auto cases.
- In 2024, 5,340 people were killed in U.S. crashes involving large trucks; 70% of them were occupants of other vehicles, not the truck.
- Georgia recorded 188 deaths in large-truck crashes in 2023, and large trucks were involved in 12% of all Georgia fatal crashes that year.
Last reviewed: 2026-07-28
The Ugly Truth About Truck Accidents
Road crashes and truck accidents are on the rise. More and more drivers are on the roads, and more and more trucking companies are out hauling loads.
According to NHTSA's overview of 2024 crash data, 5,340 people were killed in traffic crashes involving large trucks in 2024 — a 2.5 percent decrease from 5,478 in 2023, which was itself an 8 percent drop from 5,969 in 2022. Of those deaths, 70 percent were occupants of other vehicles, 17 percent were large-truck occupants, and 12 percent were pedestrians or cyclists. The longer trend is the harder one: the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that large-truck crash deaths were 58 percent higher in 2024 than in 2009, the lowest year since federal fatal-crash data collection began in 1975.
Looking at non-fatal crashes–an estimated 161,201 people were injured in crashes involving large trucks in 2024, up 5.0 percent from 153,486 in 2023.
So, what does all of this data mean? It means that large trucks are some of the most dangerous vehicles on the road.
Where Do Truck Accidents Happen?
The most common places where big rig truck crashes occur are rural areas and on Interstate highways. In 2023, 55 percent of fatal crashes involving large trucks occurred in rural areas and 25 percent occurred on Interstates, according to NHTSA's large-truck fact sheet. Closer to home, 188 people were killed in Georgia crashes involving a large truck that year, 135 of them occupants of other vehicles. The Georgia Governor's Office of Highway Safety reports that large trucks were involved in 12 percent of all Georgia fatal crashes in 2023, with large-truck fatalities down 22 percent in the 11-county Atlanta region.
What Do We Mean by “Big Rig” Truck?
What is a “big rig” truck? When we talk about “big rig” trucks, we are talking about 18-wheelers, coal trucks, buses, cement trucks, dump trucks, etc. But, the most prevalent among big rig trucks are tractor-trailers. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 58 percent of deaths in large-truck crashes in 2024 (3,098) involved tractor-trailers, and 37 percent (1,957) involved single-unit trucks.
There were 16,082,510 large trucks registered in the United States in 2024, and they traveled 329.6 billion miles that year. So, the statistics point to the fact that tractor-trailers are some of the most dangerous vehicles on the roadway. Period.
Main Causes of Big Rig Accidents
Vehicular weight and long stopping distance are two of the key causes of truck accidents. However, there are many other factors that cause truck accidents. Knowing these factors can help us explain why these dangerous truck accidents happen so often.
Weight and stopping distance of big trucks leading causes of truck crashes. The average new vehicle in model year 2024 weighed about 4,354 pounds–roughly 2.2 tons, and just below the heaviest on record in federal EPA testing data. Whereas, a tractor-trailer can weigh up to 40 tons–80,000 pounds!
This means that it takes a much longer distance to stop a tractor-trailer than it does to stop a normal car. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety puts the gap at 20 to 40 percent more stopping distance for a loaded tractor-trailer than for a car, and that gap widens on wet roads or with poorly maintained brakes.
Georgia's own Commercial Driver's Manual (§ 5.4.4) puts the total stopping distance for an air-braked heavy vehicle at more than 450 feet at 55 mph–perception distance, plus reaction distance, plus roughly 32 feet of air-brake lag, plus braking distance. That is about the length of 1.5 football fields. The speed at which the vehicles are traveling is also very important. The faster the tractor-trailer is traveling, the longer it will take to come to a complete stop. This is why fatalities and injuries in truck accidents are so common.
Another key cause of large truck accidents is speeding around curves. We see many clients who were involved in truck crashes because the truck driver was driving too fast around a curve and caused the crash.
Truck Accident Statistics Show A High Percentage of Fatalities
The FMCSA releases car crash statistics that also includes separate data for large trucks. Deaths in large-truck crashes have fallen three years running–5,969 in 2022, 5,478 in 2023, and 5,340 in 2024–but they remain 58 percent above the 2009 low. That long-run elevation, and the severity of these crashes, is why the compensation for injuries and wrongful death due to truck accidents is typically far higher than in an ordinary car case.
While it is difficult to attribute a tractor-trailer accident to one single factor, FMCSA's Large Truck Crash Causation Study (crashes sampled 2001–2003) coded these associated factors most often for the trucks it studied:
- Brake problems, including brakes out of adjustment — 29.4 percent
- Traveling too fast for conditions — 22.9 percent
- Unfamiliarity with the roadway — 21.6 percent
- Inadequate surveillance — 13.2 percent
- Driver fatigue — 13.0 percent
- Following too closely — 4.9 percent
Following too closely is also a Georgia traffic violation under O.C.G.A. § 40-6-49, and because damages are apportioned under O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33, you recover nothing if you are found 50 percent or more at fault.
Our Truck Accident Attorneys Can Help
At Georgia Auto Law, our practice is limited to auto and truck accident cases. This means that we do not focus our time, research, or resources on anything except winning you the most money on your car accident case. Mark Wade, Founder and Lead Attorney at Georgia Auto Law, points out that a truck case is usually won or lost in its first weeks: a carrier only has to keep duty-status records and their supporting documents for six months, so the preservation letter has to go out long before the adjuster calls.
You are welcome to call one of our auto attorneys at any time, day or night, at (404) 662-4949. You can also complete our consultation form, and one of our truck accident specialists will reach out to you within minutes. With our No Fee Pledge™, you pay nothing. We are here for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What causes most large-truck crashes?
According to FMCSA's Large Truck Crash Causation Study, which sampled crashes from April 2001 through December 2003, action or inaction by a driver was the critical reason for 88 percent of the crashes studied. The most frequently coded associated factors were brake problems (29.4 percent), traveling too fast for conditions (22.9 percent), unfamiliarity with the roadway (21.6 percent), inadequate surveillance (13.2 percent), and fatigue (13.0 percent). Many of these correlate with violations of federal hours-of-service rules — a logbook audit early in the case can reveal those violations.
How long do I have to file a Georgia truck-accident claim?
Two years from the date of the crash under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-33 for personal injury. Cargo or property claims have four years under O.C.G.A. § 9-3-32. However, evidence-preservation letters to the carrier should go out within days to prevent logbook and ELD data from being overwritten.
Can I sue both the truck driver and the trucking company?
Yes. Under Georgia respondeat superior law, the trucking company is generally liable for the driver’s on-duty negligence. The carrier also has independent duties to inspect, train, supervise, and route — violations of those duties create direct claims against the company beyond the driver’s actions.
What evidence is unique to truck-accident cases?
Federal regulations from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration require commercial carriers to maintain driver logs, hours-of-service records, electronic logging device (ELD) data, drug and alcohol test results, maintenance records, and post-crash inspection reports. Retention periods are short — duty-status records and their supporting documents must be kept for only six months (49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1)), and inspection, repair, and maintenance records for one year while the truck is under the carrier's control plus six months after it leaves (49 CFR § 396.3(c)) — so they must be preserved by formal demand.
