Editorial policy
Official records first. Clear definitions beside the numbers. A route to correct an error.
Evidence before explanation
Axle Count writes and publishes the guides on this site. Each guide has one question to answer. We start with the record that can answer it: a statute, an agency instruction, a federal rule, or a public dataset. We check the statement against that source before turning it into plain language.
For Georgia rules, we use the Georgia Code and relevant court materials. For crash reporting, we use police departments, the Georgia Department of Public Safety, and the Georgia Department of Transportation. Federal safety and crash information comes from NHTSA, FMCSA, and the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations. The State Bar’s directory and rules support our explanations of license and fee checks.
Links sit in the text where a reader needs the original record. A short source line identifies the dataset behind a table. We distinguish our calculations from a number published directly by an agency. We do not use a road’s crash count to assign fault in an individual case.
How we count truck crashes
Our Georgia tables use NHTSA’s national FARS files for 2020–2024. We select Georgia crashes and identify a large truck using the medium and heavy truck body types in the vehicle file. We exclude vehicles identified as incomplete cutaway chassis. We count the deaths on each qualifying crash record, including people outside the truck.
County totals use the crash county. Road totals use the recorded road identifier, with names put into a consistent I-, US-, or SR- form. Road classifications in the statewide totals come from the separate route field. These are fatal-crash records, rather than a count of every collision or injury.
Keeping a guide current
We revise an explanation when a relevant law changes, an agency changes its request process, or a source correction affects the page. For a data update, we check the year range, totals, labels, and calculations together. A newer release can change an earlier year’s total.
We check that headings, tables, and links agree with the revised text. A material correction receives a short explanation on the affected guide. We do not present an unverified statement as a settled fact.
Send a question about accuracy
Use the corrections process if a number, link, or rule appears wrong. Include the page, the passage, and the official source that supports the change. The correction review concerns the published content; the Free crash review is the separate route for a request about an accident.