New Mexico Fatal Bus Accident Statistics
For the year 2015, New Mexico reported 46 fatalities involving large trucks and buses. This number is a drastic reduction from the 74 reported in 2014. These deaths come from 42 fatal crashes as opposed to the 56 reported in the prior year. A total of 53 large vehicles were involved. The information comes from a report by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA).
Twelve of the fatal crashes involved just the one vehicle while the other 30 included multiple vehicles. According to nationwide data, the majority of large vehicle crashes involve two vehicles.
New Mexico had a fatality rate of 20.14 per one million people in 2015. This number is up from 2010 when it was reported at 19.91. The rate is almost double the national rate of 11.19. The state has reported slightly higher fatality numbers and a higher overall population.
Overall, fatality rates have dropped even as more buses are on the roads. In 1975, the fatality rate per million miles driven was 5.75, which has since dropped to 1.77 in 2014. At the same time, the number of buses registered has almost doubled. There were over 460,000 buses registered in 1975, but that number has increased to over 870,000 in 2014. Buses may consist of school buses, intercity, and transit buses and van-buses.
Intercity buses rank first with transit buses for most fatalities, and school buses come in third for 2015. Van-buses rank well behind the others for the number of deaths.
Over half of the counties in New Mexico reported at least one fatality in 2015, but all of them had fewer than six. The main areas for these deaths were in the northwest and southeast. Northern counties such as San Juan and McKinley listed fatalities as well as Eddy and Lea counties in the south.