Facts + Statistics: Highway safety

The cost and crashworthiness of vehicles as well as drivers’ safety habits affect the cost of auto insurance. Out of concern for public safety and to help reduce the cost of crashes, insurers support safe driving initiatives. The insurance industry is a major supporter of anti-drunk driving and seatbelt usage campaigns.

 

Lives saved by safety devices

• Airbags: Airbags are designed to inflate in moderate to severe frontal crashes. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, the federal government has required auto manufacturers to install driver and passenger airbags for frontal protection in all cars since the 1999 model year. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that frontal airbags saved the lives of 2,790 occupants age 13 and older in 2017. Airbags, combined with seatbelts, are the most effective safety protection available for passenger vehicles. Seatbelts alone reduce the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent. The fatality-reducing effectiveness for frontal airbags is 14 percent when no seatbelt is used and 11 percent when a seatbelt is used in conjunction with airbags.
• Seatbelts: Among passenger vehicle occupants age five and older, seatbelts saved an estimated 14,955 lives in 2017. In fatal crashes in 2017, about 83 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were totally ejected from the vehicle were killed. NHTSA says that when used seat belts reduce the risk of fatal injury to front seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and the risk of moderate-to-critical injury by 50 percent. For light truck occupants, the risk is reduced by 60 percent and 65 percent, respectively.
• Child safety seats: NHTSA says that in 2017 the lives of an estimated 325 children under the age of five were saved by restraints.
• Motorcycle helmets: NHTSA estimates that helmets saved the lives of 1,872 motorcyclists in 2017. If all motorcyclists had worn helmets, an additional 749 lives could have been saved.
• Helmets are estimated to be 37 percent effective in preventing fatal injuries to motorcycle riders and 41 percent for motorcycle passengers. In other words, for every 100 motorcycle riders killed in crashes while not wearing a helmet, 37 of them could have been saved had all 100 worn helmets.

• Electronic stability control: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) requires all vehicles manufactured after model year 2012 to have electronic stability control (ESC). All new passenger cars, light trucks, SUVs and vans must comply with the requirement. ESC was designed to help prevent rollovers and other types of crashes by controlling brakes and engine power.
• NHTSA says ESC saved about 1,949 passenger car occupant lives in 2015 including 857 passenger car occupants, and 1,091 lives among light truck and van occupants. The 2015 total for lives compares with 1,575 lives saved in 2014 and 1,380 lives saved in 2013. Over the five years from 2011 to 2015, NHTSA says the ESC has saved a total of more than 7,000 lives.

 

Motor vehicle crashes

2021: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released a statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first half of 2021 that shows an 18.4 percent increase in the number of Americans who died in motor vehicle crashes compared to the same six-month period in 2020. This increase follows the estimated 7.2 percent increase in crash deaths recorded in 2020, see below. The 2021 first half increase was the highest number for the first six months period since 2006 and the highest half-year percentage increase on record. NHTSA also noted that crash deaths in the second quarter of 2021 were the highest for a second quarter since 1990 an the highest quarterly percent change, 23 percent, in history. Early data also show that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the first half of 2021 rose about 13.0 percent, compared with the first half of 2020. The fatality rate for the first half of 2021 increased to 1.34 fatalities per 100 million VMT, up from the estimated rate of 1.28 fatalities per 100 million VMT in the first half of 2020. However, the fatality rate in the second quarter of 2021 fell, which represents the first decline in year-to-year quarterly fatality rates the fourth quarter of 2019.

2020: A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for 2020 from NHTSA shows that an estimated 38,680 people died in motor vehicle traf­fic crashes, up 7.2 percent from 36,096 fatalities in 2019. The increase in fatalities occurred despite vehicle miles traveled falling about 13.2 percent in 2020 from a year prior as stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic were in effect. As a result the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled soared to 1.37 from 1.11 in 2019 to the highest level since 2007. According to the Triple-I the increase in traffic fatalities per 100 vehicle miles traveled was likely caused by faster driving.

Earlier preliminary data from the National Safety Council (NSC) showed that an estimated 42,060 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2020, up 8 percent from 2019. The death rate based on mileage soared 24 percent over the prior year, marking the highest annual increase that the NSC has recorded in 96 years. In addition, 4,795,000 people were injured in 2020 and the estimated cost of deaths, injuries and property damage totaled $474 billion. NSC data are not strictly comparable to NHTSA’s figures shown below.

2019: According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 36,096 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2019, down 2.0 percent from 36,835 in 2018. The drop in 2019 was the third consecutive annual decline, which occurred despite a 0.9 percent increase from 2018 in vehicle miles traveled. Fatalities decreased slightly in 2019 for drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, pedestrians and pedal cyclists. Fatalities involving SUVs rose 3.4 percent from 2018 and rose slightly in crashes involving large trucks. The total fatality rate, measured as deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, dropped to 1.11 in 2019, from 1.14 in 2018.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, vehicle occupants accounted for 66 percent of traffic deaths in 2018. Pedestrians accounted for 17 percent. Motorcycle riders accounted for another 14 percent, pedal cyclists, other nonoccupants and unknown occupants accounted for the remainder.

 

Driver Behavior

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has developed a list of driver behaviors that are factors in fatal crashes. Speeding is at the top of the list of related factors for drivers involved in fatal crashes. In 2019, 8,746 drivers who were involved in fatal crashes (or 17 percent) were speeding. In addition, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has found that rising state speed limits over the 25 years from 1993 to 2017 have cost nearly 37,000 lives, including more than 1,900 in 2017 alone. By 2021, 42 states had maximum speed limits of 70 mph or higher. On some portion of their roads, 22 states had maximum speed limits of 70 mph, and 11 states had maximum speed limits of 75 mph. Eight states had 80 mph limits, and drivers in Texas can legally drive 85 mph on one road, according to the IIHS. The IIHS says that as the crash speed increased from 40 mph to 56 mph in its tests, researchers found more structural damage and greater forces on the test dummy’s entire body. These increases in speed cancel out the safety benefits resulting from vehicle improvements like airbags and better structural design. By 56 mph, researchers from the IIHS, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and the manufacturer of the test dummies found that a head-on crash between two similar vehicles traveling at the same speed would result in severe brain and neck injury and likely result in leg fractures.

Ranking second was the influence of alcohol, drugs or medication, affecting 5,164 drivers, or 10 percent of all drivers involved in fatal crashes. Failure to yield the right of way, and failure to stay in the proper lane were cited as third and fourth, with a total of about 7,100 drivers, or almost 14 percent of all drivers in fatal crashes exhibiting these behaviors. Drivers operating a vehicle in a careless manner were the fifth most likely to be involved in a fatal crash (3,302 drivers or 6.5 percent of all drivers in fatal crashes).

 

Seatbelt Laws

Thirty-four states and the District of Columbia have a primary seatbelt enforcement law, which allows law enforcement officers to stop a car for noncompliance with seatbelt laws. The other states have secondary laws; officials can only issue seatbelt violations if they stop motorists for other infractions. New Hampshire, the only state that does not have a seatbelt law that applies to adults, has a child restraint law. Seatbelts were in use 90.4 percent of the time nationwide in 2021, statistically unchanged from 90.3 percent in 2020, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Generally, states with stronger seatbelt enforcement laws achieve higher rates of seatbelt use than states with weaker laws. State seat belt usage rates for 2021 published by NHTSA can be found here; details on state seatbelt laws published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety can be found here.

 

Motor vehicle crashes by time of year

Traffic fatalities spike during different periods.

• In 2019 August had the most fatal crashes and February had the least, according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
• In 2019, about 50 percent of fatal crashes occurred on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, according to NHTSA.
• The beginning of daylight savings is linked to an increase in auto accidents, according to an analysis by the University of British Columbia and studies by researchers at John Hopkins and Stanford University.
• Crashes caused by drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol are more prevalent around Christmas and New Year’s Day compared with Thanksgiving Day. Crashes on the days around Thanksgiving are concentrated around typical rush hours, according to researchers at the University of Alabama.
• All holidays are generally a time of increased travel and traffic deaths. In 2019, Independence Day was the holiday period with the most motor vehicle deaths (498), followed by Memorial Day (453), Labor Day (433), New Year’s Day (428), Thanksgiving Day (406) and Christmas Day (129).  As a percent of all fatalities that occur on those days, the percent that involve alcohol-impaired drivers ranges from about 30 to 40 percent. See chart below.

 

Distracted driving

Activities that take drivers’ attention off the road, including talking or texting on cellphones, eating, talking with passengers, adjusting vehicle controls, and other distractions, are major safety threats. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) gauges distracted driving by collecting data on distraction-affected crashes, which focus on distractions that are most likely to result in crashes. These distractions can include dialing a cellphone, texting, or being distracted by another person or an outdoor event. In 2020, 3,142 people were killed in crashes involving distractions. There were 2,880 distraction-affected fatal crashes, accounting for 8 percent of all fatal crashes in the nation.

Most states have addressed the issue of using cellphones for talking and texting. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as of June 2022, talking on a hand-held cellphone while driving is banned in 24 states and the District of Columbia. Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Laws for novice drivers are even more restrictive: their use of all cellphones is restricted in 36 states and the District of Columbia. Additionally, drivers age 21 and younger are banned from texting in Missouri.

 

Pedestrian fatalities

In November 2020, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued its Pedestrian Safety Action Plan in response to the growing number of pedestrian fatalities. It showed that from 2010 to 2019, total traffic fatalities grew 9 percent but pedestrian traffic fatalities rose 44 percent, from 4,302 to 6,205. Pedestrian traffic fatalities were 13 percent of all traffic fatalities in 2010 and by 2019 that proportion grew to 17 percent. Most fatalities occur in urban areas, 81 percent in 2018. The comprehensive plan includes a number of initiatives focused on reducing the number of pedestrian deaths to be implemented by the Federal Highway Administration and NHTSA. Programs expected to be set up in the near term include those that enhance public education, improve pedestrian crossings, improve lighting, set appropriate speed limits. In years to come, the agencies would continue to do more planning by studying the use of automated driving technologies, and improve infrastructure.

The increase in the number of pedestrian fatalities has occurred because state and local transportation agencies prioritize motorist speed and avoiding delay over pedestrian safety, according to Smart Growth America, a nonprofit organization promoting smart growth strategies. The organization’s research shows that older adults, people of color, and people walking in low-income communities are at higher risk for being involved in pedestrian crashes. Its analysis of crashes that occurred between 2010 and 2019 from NHTSA’s Fatal Analysis Reporting System shows that three of the top five metropolitan statistical areas most dangerous and deadly for pedestrians were in Florida—Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, ranking first, Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, ranking fourth and Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond ranking fifth. Ranking second and third were Bakersfield, California and Memphis, Tennessee-Missouri-Arkansas. The rankings were based on the organization’s Pedestrian Danger Index which factored in the number of pedestrians struck and killed by drivers based on population and people who walk in the area. By state the top five ranked by the index were Florida, Alabama, New Mexico, Mississippi and Delaware.

In 2019, an estimated 32 percent of fatal pedestrian traffic crashes involved a pedestrian with blood-alcohol content (BAC) of 0.08 grams per deciliter or higher, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A BAC of 0.08 grams per deciliter is the legal limit for alcohol impairment in all states except Utah, which has a threshold of 0.05 grams per deciliter. In 2019, an estimated 13 percent of fatal pedestrian crashes involved a driver with a BAC of 0.08 or higher.

Although pedestrian deaths fell in 2019, the latest year of final data, they are on the rise again. In 2019, NHTSA reported that 6,205 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes, down 2.7 percent from the 6,374 pedestrians killed in 2018. A May 2021 report from the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) shows that in 2020, based on preliminary data, pedestrian fatalities rose 4.8 percent to 6,721 from 6,412 in 2019. The association’s calculations found that pedestrian fatalities rose in 31 states and the District of Columbia while 19 states had decreases. These increases occurred despite the COVID-19 pandemic-related decline in vehicle miles traveled of 13.2 percent in 2020. The pedestrian fatality rate, measured by one billion vehicle miles traveled, rose to 2.30 from 1.90 in 2019, a 21 percent increase. The GHSA notes that this rate of increase is the largest since records were first kept in 1975. The GHSA’s methodology for computing fatalities differs from NHTSA, accounting for the different fatality number in 2019.

 

Additional resources

Background

Background on: Teen drivers

Background on: Older drivers

Background on: Distracted driving

Facts + Statistics

Drowsy driving

Aggressive driving

Distracted driving

Teen drivers