Pedestrian and Bicyclist Fatalities in Large Truck Crashes 2013
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Summary
This report, commissioned by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and authored by Daniel Britton, analyzes trends and characteristics of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in crashes involving large trucks. The study was motivated by a rising proportion of pedestrian and bicyclist deaths in total crash fatalities between 2007 and 2013. Specifically, pedestrians accounted for 14.5% of all crash fatalities in 2013, up from 11.4% in 2007, while their share of large truck crash fatalities rose from 6.5% to 8.5% over the same period. The research relies exclusively on data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), a census of fatal motor vehicle crashes on public trafficways. The analysis focuses primarily on 2013 data, with comparative trends drawn from 2004–2013. The report categorizes crashes by critical pre-crash events, crash circumstances (including driver and non-motorist behaviors), substance use, work zone status, roadway function class, vehicle type, and demographic factors. Key findings indicate that in crashes involving large trucks and pedestrians, the pedestrian was frequently the victim, with crash circumstances attributed to the pedestrian in 69% of cases versus 34% for large truck drivers. Substance use was a significant factor: 37% of pedestrians killed in large truck crashes in 2013 tested positive for alcohol or drugs or were coded as under the influence, compared to only 4% of large truck drivers. Similarly, 76% of bicyclist fatalities in large truck crashes involved circumstances attributed to the bicyclist, with 18% testing positive for substances versus 2% of drivers. Notably, 31% of bicyclist fatalities in these crashes were coded as failing to yield. Environmental factors also played a major role, with 43% of pedestrian fatalities occurring in dark, unlighted areas. The study found that pedestrian fatalities in large truck crashes where the pedestrian was "at work" occurred at nearly five times the rate of general pedestrian fatalities. Additionally, large trucks striking pedestrians in single-vehicle crashes more often impacted areas other than the front of the vehicle compared to passenger vehicles. The report concludes that pedestrian and bicyclist behaviors and conditions, particularly substance impairment and failure to yield, are more frequently associated with fatalities in large truck crashes than driver errors. The data suggests that large trucks and pedestrians tend not to be involved in the same crashes as often as statistical independence would predict, likely due to differing travel patterns. The findings highlight the need for targeted safety interventions addressing pedestrian impairment, visibility in dark conditions, and interactions in work zones and urban areas.
Key finding
Pedestrians killed in large truck crashes were much more likely to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs than the large truck drivers in those crashes, while bicyclists were much more likely to be coded as having failed to yield than the large truck drivers.
Methodology
dataset
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | success | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.
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- Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes