Nevadans were more likely to die in truck-related crashes than Americans overall in recent years, according to a study released Monday by a traffic safety group.

The Truck Safety Coalition study reported 2.24 people per 100,000 residents died in truck-related wrecks in Nevada in 2005, a rate that ranked the state 20th worst in the nation. And the rate was 27 percent greater than the national norm of 1.76 deaths per 100,000 residents.

And Nevada's fatalities that year -- when 54 people died in crashes linked to trucks -- were more than 80 percent higher than the Silver State's 1.24 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2004, when 29 people died.

The study's backers did not specifically account for the Silver State's higher rate but said states that allow heavier trucks and higher speed limits -- like Nevada -- tend to be more crash-prone.

"There are too many Americans being killed on the highways, and there doesn't have to be," Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group and chairwoman of Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways, which sponsors the TSC, said during a Monday news conference broadcast on the Internet from Washington, D.C.

The study's findings jibed with the viewpoint of some Southern Nevada traffic observers. "That makes sense," said Erin Breen, director of the UNLV Safe Community Partnership, a traffic safety group. "The biggest thing is high speed limits, greater weight."

The study follows a number of high-profile truck crashes in Southern Nevada last year, including a Nov. 16 wreck in which an 18-wheeler failed to stop in an Interstate 15 construction zone near Cheyenne Avenue, slamming into the rear of a line of stopped cars, killing four people and hurting five others.

And on Oct. 12, a dump truck driver who had stimulants and alcohol in his system died with his passenger when their truck crashed through a U.S. Highway 95 median near Tropicana Avenue, triggering an eight-vehicle wreck that injured eight other people.

Nationwide, more than 5,200 people died in truck-related crashes in 2005, about the same as in 2004. Of those killed, roughly four of every five were occupants of vehicles other than the truck. Another 114,000 people were injured in such wrecks in 2005, according to the TSC, citing federal data.

Large trucks -- which the study defined as any freight-carrying vehicle weighing at least 10,000 pounds when empty, the same as the federal definition, are involved in about 9 percent of deadly wrecks although trucks make up just 3 percent of the nation's registered vehicle fleet, according to the TSC.

The TSC put the blame for truck deaths on the U.S. Department of Transportation and one of its subagencies, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The TSC argues the agency should limit the number of hours truckers can drive each day and increase truck inspections, among other recommendations.

"The agency continues to put cargo ahead of people," Claybrook said. A motor carrier administration spokesman told Bloomberg News his agency was studying why truck crash rates were higher in rural states and claimed the overall rate of truck wrecks was declining, even as truck traffic was growing.

In regard to truck size, Nevada is one of the few states that allow trucks to carry up to 129,000 pounds of cargo, well above the 80,000-pound limit in most states. And Nevada's speed limit on rural highways is 75 mph, exceeding the federal norm of 65 mph.

But Breen didn't put all the blame on truckers.

"People don't realize when you're carrying that much weight, you don't stop like a car can stop," she said. "I constantly see people do foolish things, especially on the freeway, in front of big rigs," like cutting in front of trucks and slamming on brakes.

A 120,000-pound truck needs 50 percent more distance to stop than an 80,000-pound truck, the TSC saod.

Breen thought Nevada's death rate might be skewed compared with some Eastern states, because of low population, wide-open spaces and heavy truck use.

"In the West, we have a lot more trucks," Breen said.

Sgt. Joe Smith of the Nevada Highway Patrol's commercial enforcement division said he finds no single factor is behind truck crashes in Clark County.

"It has to do with a whole bunch of things: driver problems, mechanical problems, vehicles operating around commercial vehicles," Smith said.

Drivers other than the truck drivers are to blame for roughly 70 percent of such crashes in the Las Vegas Valley, Smith said.

During this year's Legislative session, there are a handful of bills proposing additional restrictions on trucks, including one that would bar large trucks from using highway passing lanes in urban areas. Those bills are pending.

And last month, the Nevada Highway Patrol began its "No Zone" campaign, urging passenger vehicle drivers to stay ay least 100 feet behind tractor-trailer trucks, avoid traveling to the right of such trucks and refrain from cutting in front of big rigs.

But police officials have acknowledged that those practices aren't always possible in Las Vegas's bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Nonetheless, Smith said such campaigns are key to reducing truck-related wrecks.

"It's the continual education of not only the public but the truck drivers themselves to be familiar with the roads, and anticipate problems and be mindful and respectful of each other."

Nationally, the worst death rate was in Wyoming, with 6.09 truck-related deaths per 100,000 residents. The lowest rate was in Rhode Island, with a rate of 0.09 deaths.

Southwestern states in the study included New Mexico (with a rate of 3.27 truck-related deaths per 100,000 residents, ranking it fourth among all states); Arizona (1.63, 27th); Utah (1.30, 37th) and California (1.18, 38th).