Metro Atlanta truck crash statistics: I-285 inside the 29-county Atlanta MSA (2020-2024)

Deaths and fatal crashes by year

Selected I-285 crashes within the Atlanta MSA accounted for 6 deaths in 6 fatal crashes in 2020 and 7 deaths in 7 fatal crashes in 2021. In 2022, the figures were 10 deaths in 10 fatal crashes, the largest annual death count and fatal-crash count among the supplied years.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

The 2023 records contain 9 deaths in 7 fatal crashes, while 2024 contains 5 deaths in 5 fatal crashes. Deaths and crashes remain separate measures even when their values match. The 2020 through 2023 records are Final Files; the 2024 Annual Report File remains provisional.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

Person categories

People in other vehicles account for 22 deaths in the selected crashes during 2020-2024. Nonoccupants account for 11 deaths, and people in the large truck account for 4 deaths. Among these supplied person categories, people in other vehicles have the largest death count. These figures describe people killed, not the number of vehicles or crashes.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

The nonoccupant category follows the FARS A_PTYPE 3,4,5 grouping, which includes occupants of vehicles not in transport. It should not be read as a pedestrian-only count. Every category remains confined to the selected fatal large-truck crashes on I-285 within the Atlanta MSA.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

Manner of collision

The manner categories describe the first harmful event in the selected crashes. Not a collision with a motor vehicle in transport accounts for 18 deaths, followed by rear-end with 13 deaths. Those are the largest death counts among the supplied manner categories for 2020-2024. They are not counts of collision events.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

Head-on and sideswipe each account for 2 deaths; angle and other each account for 1 death. A motor vehicle stopped in traffic can still be a vehicle in transport under this distinction. The categories describe the recorded event classification, without establishing why a crash happened or assigning fault.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

Recorded counties

DeKalb County has 16 selected deaths, Fulton County has 13, Clayton County has 5, and Cobb County has 3 during 2020-2024. DeKalb has the largest selected death count among these supplied county rows. The comparison is restricted to the selected I-285 fatal large-truck crashes, rather than every large-truck crash in each county.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

County assignments follow where the crash occurred, not where the person killed lived. These location counts do not provide county population rates or traffic-exposure rates. They also do not establish a ranking of countywide truck-crash risk, because the supplied figures concern deaths within this route selection.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

Recorded interstate routes

The recorded interstate row assigns 37 deaths during 2020-2024 to I-285 within the Atlanta MSA. Selection requires ROUTE = 1 plus a parsed TWAY_ID identifying I-285, with the crash location inside the 29-county metropolitan boundary. The route name alone does not replace those record-selection conditions.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

This table describes the selected route records, rather than every road in metro Atlanta or an unrestricted count for an entire interstate outside the metro boundary. With only I-285 supplied as a route row, it offers no comparison with other interstates. The death count is not a measure of route traffic volume.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

Trucks in the selected crashes

The distinct crashes containing the selected deaths involved 38 large-truck vehicles during 2020-2024. Among those large trucks, 30 were truck-tractor vehicles. These are vehicle counts: they should not be substituted for the 37 deaths or the 35 distinct fatal crashes in the selection.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

For this topic, a large truck is a medium or heavy truck with a gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds; buses and motor homes are excluded. The underlying A_LT = 1 condition identifies crashes involving at least one large truck. Truck involvement establishes inclusion in the data, without establishing fault.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

Sources and limits

NHTSA FARS covers fatal traffic crashes involving a motor vehicle on a trafficway customarily open to the public, with an occupant or nonoccupant dying within 30 days. Nonfatal-only crashes are excluded. The metropolitan boundary is the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA MSA, CBSA 12060, containing 29 counties under OMB Bulletin 23-01, July 2023.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

The 2020 through 2023 data use FARS Final Files; 2024 uses the provisional Annual Report File. Counts follow crash location. No mileage or traffic-exposure denominator is supplied, so the figures cannot support exposure-based risk comparisons. The supplied 8.3% share instead uses all metro large-truck-crash deaths as its denominator.^{[6][1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]}

See also

• Georgia's two-year limit for truck accident injury claims

On related publications

• Georgia truck accident statistics (2020-2024) (truckaccidentlawyers.wiki)
• Large truck (crash data definition) (truckaccidentlawyer.wiki)