DALLAS — If you have ever driven on Interstate 35 and felt a little nervous about some of the large trucks surrounding you, this might not be the article for you.
A new study based on fatal crashes shows that Texas is the tenth most dangerous state for truck drivers in the country, according to transportation services company Simplex.
The research analyzed the latest data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration from 2020. It measured the percentage of large trucks involved in fatal crashes compared to all fatal vehicle crashes per state.
Texas came in as the tenth "most dangerous" state in terms of large truck drivers, with 11.39% (622 out of 5,460) of Texas' total life-endangering crashes involving large trucks, based on the 2020 study.
Wyoming was considered the most dangerous state for truck drivers with 33 of the state’s 174 fatal vehicle crashes involving large trucks in 2020. This comes out to 18.97% of the state's total crashes involving large trucks.
Here's a look at where all the states rank, based on the study:
- Wyoming - 18.97%
- Idaho - 16.33%
- Nebraska - 15.92%
- Iowa - 14.35%
- North Dakota - 13.24%
- South Dakota - 12.57%
- Alaska - 12.50%
- Kansas - 11.94%
- Indiana - 11.80%
- Texas - 11.39%
- Montana - 11.11%
- Minnesota - 10.77%
- Kentucky - 10.61%
- Alabama - 10.57%
- New Mexico - 10.37%
- Oklahoma - 10.26%
- Illinois - 10.16%
- Arkansas - 9.92%
- Georgia - 9.64%
- Tennessee - 9.58%
- Utah - 9.57%
- Virginia - 9.33%
- Oregon - 9.30%
- Maine - 9.26%
- Pennsylvania - 9.20%
- West Virginia - 9.19%
- Missouri - 9.10%
- Mississippi - 8.67%
- Louisiana - 8.65%
- Colorado - 8.36%
- South Carolina - 8.31%
- Ohio - 8.21%
- New York - 8.07%
- Wisconsin - 7.64%
- Washington - 7.56%
- Arizona - 7.56%
- Rhode Island - 7.53%
- New Hampshire - 7.43%
- California - 7.29%
- North Carolina - 7.26%
- Florida - 7.24%
- Nevada - 7.10%
- Maryland - 6.97%
- New Jersey - 6.60%
- Connecticut - 6.02%
- Massachusetts - 5.74%
- Delaware - 5.56%
- Hawaii - 5.26%
- Vermont - 5.00%
- Michigan - 4.72%
- District of Columbia - 4.00%
Overall, Texas had the most fatal crashes of any state in 2020 with 5,460, according to the study. California came in second with 5,268 and Washington D.C. had the fewest with 50.
In October 2019, Dallas ranked as the third most dangerous city for drivers, according to a recent Car Insurance Companies study. Mesquite came in at No. 16, Houston at No. 19 and Fort Worth at No. 21.
Based on the recent Simplex study, here is a look at the type of vehicles involved in fatal crashes that happened in Texas in 2020:
- Buses - 10
- Large trucks - 622
- Light trucks - 2,248
- Motorcycles - 499
- Passenger cars - 1,873
- Other - 208
- Total - 5,460