Some occupations are notoriously dangerous. Americans who work as miners, construction workers, loggers or in similar roles are often well-aware of the particular risks involved in their lines of work. Newly released statistics regarding the most dangerous jobs in America, however, revealed that today’s commercial truck drivers currently hold the nation’s deadliest job titles.
According to the Commercial Carrier Journal, commercial truck drivers had the highest fatality rate in the United States in 2018, with the industry fatality rate standing at 28.3. What does this mean, exactly? In simple terms, it means that, for every 100,000 full-time truck drivers, there are 28.3 truck deaths. This is a higher fatality rate than that seen among pilots, roofers, loggers and fishing professionals, although all of these occupations saw their death rates rise more than truck drivers in 2018.
Troubling statistics
Out of 5,250 fatal work injuries experienced by American employees in 2018, about 40%, or 2,080 of them, resulted from transportation-related incidents. Furthermore, truck drivers and sales workers who regularly drive as part of their job duties also had the highest fatality rate among any broad occupation group, with 966 people in these lines of work losing their lives in work-related incidents in 2018. Drivers of large, heavy trucks, specifically, experienced 831 deaths during 2018, which is about 10 times the amount of deaths seen among drivers in “light truck” or delivery-service professions.
Thousands of crashes
Statistically speaking, about 95% of all fatal work injuries experienced by truckers result from truck crashes. The number of commercial truck-involved wrecks on the nation’s roadways rose slightly between 2017 and 2018, with these crashes claiming 4,905 lives in total in 2018. Of those 4,905 fatalities, 885 of them involved the deaths of the actual truck drivers.
Truck driving is an undeniably dangerous profession, and numerous factors contribute to its dangers. If you make your living driving a truck, or if you love someone who does, you must recognize and understand the numerous risks involved in this particular line of work.