Highway Fatalities
Quarterly data
Improved safety is the foremost goal of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and highway fatalities accounted for 94% of all transportation fatalities in 2011. (BTS, National Transportation Statistics) Motor vehicle fatalities were the leading cause of death in persons age 15-29 in 2010, causing 21% of those deaths. (CDC) The trend of highway fatalities has been downward in recent years, and the number of deaths in 2011 was the lowest since 1949. (NHTSA)
| Highway Fatalities | 2013 Quarter 1 | 2014 Quarter 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Number of Highway-Related Deaths | 7,150 | 6,800 |
| Percent change from same quarter previous year | - 4.7% | - 4.9% |
NOTES: Total highway fatalities includes vehicles at rail crossings and transit vehicles operating over the road.
Data for the most recent years that do not have an annual FARS dataset (2013-14) are estimated by NHTSA and not final.
SOURCES: 1998-2012 — U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, available at http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS, as of October 2014. 2013-14 — U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the First Quarter of 2014," August 2014.