I was thinking, shouldn't we have it so when your character touches the truck instead of when the death sprite appears, because technically when you hit the truck is when your supposed to die

It's fine if "no"

No. Death% is specifically when the character dies, not when the character touches the truck.

But still, the devs implemented the frame you touch the truck for when your character dies. The game is over ten years old, which is why it has a delay