A Louisiana bus driver died last week after being thrown through the bus' windshield on Interstate 80, the Wyoming Highway Patrol reported.Â
John Brown, 75, was driving a commercial-style bus at midnight on May 17. At the time, a Freightliner combination unit was heading east in the right lane at about 40 to 45 mph with hazard lights activated, the patrol reported. Brown was driving the bus directly behind the semi-truck.Â
The bus rear-ended the combination unit's trailer while it was clearing a crest in the hill, the statement said. Brown was thrown through the windshield by the impact.
The crash happened at milepost 274 near Elk Mountain in Carbon County, the statement said.
Brown was not wearing a seat belt at the time, the statement said. The roads were dry, and the weather was clear in the area.
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The highway patrol says its investigating cell phone use and driver inattention as possible causes.Â
Brown was the 49th person to die on Wyoming’s roads in 2023. At the same time last year, Wyoming had recorded 33 road deaths.
A state-by-state breakdown of crashes involving large trucks
Crashes involving large trucks
In 2020, there were 54,272 fatal crashes reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Many of these crashes involved passenger vehicles — sedans, SUVs, or relatively small trucks; however, thousands of fatal crashes involved another type of vehicle: large trucks. In fact, large trucks — commercial and non-commercial trucks weighing over 10,000 pounds — were involved in almost 5,000 fatal crashes, or just under 9% of total fatal crashes, in 2020. Although the large truck category begins at 10,000 pounds, the majority of trucks involved in these crashes weighed more than 26,000 pounds.
And while that number may seem like a lot, it actually represents a 1% decline from the prior year. One potential reason for the decrease in fatal crashes involving large trucks is the pandemic, which caused a shift in the supply chain and consumer demand that may have put fewer large commercial trucks on the road.
But do certain states have more fatal large truck crashes than others? Walkup, Melodia, Kelly, & Schoenberger collected data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatal Analysis Reporting System to understand how many accidents in each state involved large trucks. Each state was ranked based on the number of accidents involving large trucks per 100,000 residents, using data from the FARS April 2020 Traffic Safety Facts report. Population size was drawn from U.S. Census state population totals. Click through for a look at how many crashes involving large trucks happened in each state in 2020.
#51. District of Columbia
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 2 (0.3 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 50 (4.0% involving a large truck)
#50. Massachusetts
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 28 (0.4 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 488 (5.7% involving a large truck)
#49. Hawaii
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 6 (0.4 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 114 (5.3% involving a large truck)
#48. New York
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 116 (0.6 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1437 (8.1% involving a large truck)
#47. New Jersey
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 54 (0.6 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 818 (6.6% involving a large truck)
#46. Vermont
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 4 (0.6 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 80 (5.0% involving a large truck)
#45. Rhode Island
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 7 (0.6 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 93 (7.5% involving a large truck)
#44. Connecticut
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 25 (0.7 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 415 (6.0% involving a large truck)
#43. Michigan
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 74 (0.7 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1567 (4.7% involving a large truck)
#42. Washington
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 60 (0.8 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 794 (7.6% involving a large truck)
#41. New Hampshire
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 11 (0.8 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 148 (7.4% involving a large truck)
#40. Delaware
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 9 (0.9 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 162 (5.6% involving a large truck)
#39. Maryland
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 57 (0.9 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 818 (7.0% involving a large truck)
#38. California
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 384 (1.0 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 5268 (7.3% involving a large truck)
#37. Nevada
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 32 (1.0 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 451 (7.1% involving a large truck)
#36. Minnesota
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 59 (1.0 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 548 (10.8% involving a large truck)
#35. Wisconsin
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 63 (1.1 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 825 (7.6% involving a large truck)
#34. Pennsylvania
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 147 (1.1 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1597 (9.2% involving a large truck)
#33. Utah
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 38 (1.2 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 397 (9.6% involving a large truck)
#32. Ohio
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 145 (1.2 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1766 (8.2% involving a large truck)
#31. Colorado
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 74 (1.3 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 885 (8.4% involving a large truck)
#30. Virginia
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 113 (1.3 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1211 (9.3% involving a large truck)
#29. Illinois
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 170 (1.3 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1673 (10.2% involving a large truck)
#28. Alaska
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 10 (1.4 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 80 (12.5% involving a large truck)
#27. Maine
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 20 (1.5 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 216 (9.3% involving a large truck)
#26. North Carolina
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 157 (1.5 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 2163 (7.3% involving a large truck)
#25. Oregon
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 64 (1.5 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 688 (9.3% involving a large truck)
#24. Arizona
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 111 (1.5 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1469 (7.6% involving a large truck)
#23. Florida
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 351 (1.6 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 4846 (7.2% involving a large truck)
#22. West Virginia
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 34 (1.9 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 370 (9.2% involving a large truck)
#21. Missouri
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 125 (2.0 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1373 (9.1% involving a large truck)
#20. Iowa
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 67 (2.1 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 467 (14.3% involving a large truck)
#19. Louisiana
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 98 (2.1 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1133 (8.6% involving a large truck)
#18. Texas
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 622 (2.1 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 5460 (11.4% involving a large truck)
#17. Georgia
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 230 (2.1 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 2387 (9.6% involving a large truck)
#16. Indiana
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 148 (2.2 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1254 (11.8% involving a large truck)
#15. North Dakota
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 18 (2.3 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 136 (13.2% involving a large truck)
#14. South Carolina
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 119 (2.3 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1432 (8.3% involving a large truck)
#13. Kansas
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 69 (2.4 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 578 (11.9% involving a large truck)
#12. Oklahoma
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 94 (2.4 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 916 (10.3% involving a large truck)
#11. Tennessee
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 165 (2.4 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1722 (9.6% involving a large truck)
#10. Montana
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 27 (2.5 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 243 (11.1% involving a large truck)
#9. Kentucky
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 114 (2.5 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1074 (10.6% involving a large truck)
#8. New Mexico
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 56 (2.6 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 540 (10.4% involving a large truck)
#7. Idaho
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 49 (2.7 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 300 (16.3% involving a large truck)
#6. Nebraska
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 53 (2.7 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 333 (15.9% involving a large truck)
#5. South Dakota
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 24 (2.7 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 191 (12.6% involving a large truck)
#4. Alabama
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 138 (2.7 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 1306 (10.6% involving a large truck)
#3. Arkansas
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 84 (2.8 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 847 (9.9% involving a large truck)
#2. Mississippi
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 84 (2.8 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 969 (8.7% involving a large truck)
#1. Wyoming
- Fatal crashes involving a large truck: 33 (5.7 per 100k people)
- Total fatal crashes: 174 (19.0% involving a large truck)
This story originally appeared on Walkup, Melodia, Kelly & Schoenberger and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
