Florida CMV crash rankings shift when traffic volume is factored in

A Brooks Law Group analysis of 2024 state crash and roadway data shows Florida’s commercial vehicle crash picture changes sharply once traffic exposure is included. Miami-Dade still ranks first, but Polk jumps from seventh to third among the state’s highest-volume counties.

Why it matters: - Raw crash totals can hide how often commercial motor vehicle crashes happen relative to road use. - A traffic-adjusted view changes which Florida counties look most exposed to CMV crash risk. - Miami-Dade’s rate was more than twice the state benchmark, and six of the 10 counties analyzed were above the statewide average.

What happened: - Florida recorded 46,677 crashes involving commercial motor vehicles in 2024. - Brooks Law Group compared county CMV crash totals with county vehicle miles traveled to create traffic-adjusted rankings for Florida’s 10 highest-volume counties. - Miami-Dade remained No. 1 with 8,546 CMV crashes. - Polk County moved from seventh in raw CMV crashes to third after roadway exposure was factored in.

The details: - Miami-Dade had about 38.8 CMV crashes per 100 million total vehicle miles traveled. - Florida’s statewide figure was about 18.7 CMV crashes per 100 million total vehicle miles traveled. - Miami-Dade’s traffic-adjusted CMV crash frequency was about 107% above the statewide benchmark. - Polk recorded 1,968 CMV crashes in 2024 and about 22.1 CMV crashes per 100 million total vehicle miles traveled. - Only Miami-Dade and Broward ranked higher than Polk in the traffic-adjusted analysis. - Broward ranked second with 4,551 crashes and about 24.9 crashes per 100 million total vehicle miles traveled. - Duval moved from sixth in raw crashes to fourth after traffic volume was factored in. - Lee moved from eighth to sixth. - Palm Beach fell from third to fifth. - Hillsborough fell from fourth to seventh. - Orange fell from fifth to eighth. - Pinellas ranked ninth in both raw and traffic-adjusted results. - Volusia ranked 10th in both raw and traffic-adjusted results. - The full traffic-adjusted ranking for the 10 counties was Miami-Dade, Broward, Polk, Duval, Palm Beach, Lee, Hillsborough, Orange, Pinellas and Volusia. - The analysis found that 6 of the 10 counties exceeded Florida’s statewide benchmark.

Between the lines: - Miami-Dade accounted for about 18% of Florida’s CMV crashes, with 8,546 of the state’s 46,677 total. - Florida counties have very different traffic volumes, which changes how crash totals should be read. - FDOT reported about 60.2 million vehicle miles traveled on an average day in Miami-Dade, compared with about 50 million in Broward and 24.4 million in Polk. - Polk recorded less than one-quarter as many CMV crashes as Miami-Dade, but its lower traffic volume pushed its adjusted frequency above several larger counties. - Steve Brooks, founder and managing partner of Brooks Law Group, said the crashes represent real people whose lives were interrupted and that looking more closely at where the crashes happen helps show the human story behind the statistics. - FLHSMV’s CMV category includes certain buses, medium or heavy trucks, vehicles displaying hazardous-material placards, vehicles meeting specified weight thresholds and vehicles identified as commercial on the crash report. - A crash involving a commercial motor vehicle does not establish that the commercial vehicle or driver caused the collision.

What's next: - Brooks Law Group said it used 2024 crash totals from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and daily vehicle miles traveled data from the Florida Department of Transportation. - The firm calculated annual vehicle miles traveled by multiplying average daily miles by 366 because 2024 was a leap year. - The analysis covers only the 10 Florida counties with the most CMV crashes in 2024 and is not a ranking of all 67 counties. - The traffic-adjusted measure is intended to compare crash frequency with roadway exposure, not to show a commercial-driver crash rate or the probability that an individual commercial vehicle will crash.

The bottom line: - Florida’s worst-looking CMV crash counties are not always the same counties with the highest risk once traffic exposure is included.