Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety

Buses and trucks with gross vehicle weight ratings of more than 10,000 pounds are involved in significant numbers of fatal work zone crashes each year. Collectively, these vehicle types are referred to as commercial motor vehicles (CMVs).

What does the data say?

Although 2020 showed a decrease in CMV Involvement in fatal work zone crashes (likely due to pandemic-related decreases in overall vehicular travel that year)¹, Figure 1 illustrates that the overall trend in recent years has been an increase in CMV-involved fatal work zone crashes and in their involvement as a percentage of all fatal work zone crashes. For comparison purposes, CMV involvement in non-work zone fatal crashes has remained relatively constant at about 10-13 percent during the same time period.

Figure 1. CMV-involved fatal work zone crashes and percent involvement in all fatal work zone crashes, 2013-2022 (Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] Fatality Analysis Reporting System [FARS])

Figure 2 further illustrates that CMVs are involved in more than 30 percent of fatal work zone crashes on urban interstates and more than 50 percent of fatal work zone crashes occurring on rural interstates. CMV involvement is also higher than overall trends in fatal work zone crashes on other roadway types as well.

Figure 2. CMV involvement in fatal work zone crashes by facility type, 2020-2022 average (Source: NHTSA FARS)

What is the cause?

It is not clear from the available data whether the overrepresentation of CMV involvement in fatal work zone crashes is due to:

• more work zones on roadways with more CMVs,
• more CMVs traveling to and from the work zone to deliver and take away materials and equipment, or
• because work zones are more challenging for CMV drivers to negotiate, or
• because driver distraction/inattention results in more frequent rear-end collisions by CMVs and into the rear of CMVs by non-CMVs.

All four possibilities may be partially responsible. Consequently, it will take efforts from federal agencies, state and local transportation and enforcement agencies, contractors, CMV fleet operators, CMV drivers, and non-CMV drivers to help reverse these trends.

Join the mailing list for CMVs in work zones

The Clearinghouse continues to seek out information on what agencies, contractors, fleet managers, and others are doing to reduce the risks of CMV-involved work zone crashes. Please share through the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety in Work Zones Mailing List if you have examples of plans, programs, or other efforts undertaken to reduce the risks of these crashes in work zones. Your contributions can then be added to the existing list of available resources.

Where can I find more information?

The Work Zone Fatal Crashes and Fatalities dashboard contains state-by-state data on large truck and bus-involved fatal work zone crashes and fatalities.

¹ U.S. Vehicle Miles. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C. Accessible at https://www.bts.gov/content/us-vehicle-miles.