I just looked briefly at the data provided by the NHTSA, and what I see is a jump after the pandemic, followed by declines in 2022 and 2023, contradicting the OP:

https://www.nhtsa.gov/crash-data-systems/fatality-analysis-r...

https://highways.dot.gov/safety/learn-safety/roadway-safety-...

Because you only went to 2018. The article mentions 2014, and if we use your own DOT tool to build a table [0] from 2013 to 2023 (the latest year available), and filter to include large trucks and fatal collisions, we see... a ~42% increase in fatal accidents from 2014-2023

[0] https://cdan.dot.gov/files/files/e2451bc7-e1c3-4942-93f2-af6...

Good find!