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 for every age from 16 to 25 in 2011, causing 23% of those deaths. (CDC, WISQARS) 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 2 | 2014 Quarter 2 |
---|---|---|
Number of Highway-Related Deaths | 8,166 | 8,100 |
Percent change from same quarter previous year | - 5.2% | - 0.8% |
NOTES: Total highway fatalities includes vehicles at rail crossings and transit vehicles operating over the road.
Data for the most recent year that does not have an annual FARS dataset (2014) are estimated by NHTSA and not final.
SOURCES: 1998-2013 — U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, available at http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS, as of February 2015. 2014 — U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, "Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the First Half (Jan–Jun) of 2014," January 2015.