America’s drivers covered a record 3.4 trillion miles last year, yet the simple act of getting behind the wheel remains perilous. Traffic-related deaths are the leading cause of death for teens and the 13th leading cause for all Americans.
To better understand the issue, researchers at TruckInfo.net analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and discovered the following trends.
Drunk driving and speeding are both major issues
Despite efforts to curb drunk driving, it remains the leading cause of driving fatalities followed closely by speeding.
Driving fatalities increased significantly during COVID and remain high
Driving fatalities are up nearly 25% over the past 10 years but the change hasn’t been linear. There was a large jump in 2020 and 2021. While there has been progress in recent years, fatalities are still up compared to pre-pandemic.
Rural roads are no longer more dangerous
Up until 2015, rural roads were significantly more dangerous than urban roads. However, urban road fatalities overtook rural fatalities in 2016 and the gap has only widened.
The most dangerous roadways in America
While the most dangerous roads are in large urban areas, there is little correlation between a county’s size and the number of road fatalities—indicating that road design and driving habits are important factors.
The most dangerous counties
Similar to roadways, more drivers doesn’t always equate to an increase in fatalities, with little correlation between population and fatalities.
The most dangerous states
At the state level, Mississippi, Wyoming, and New Mexico have the most driving fatalities per capita.
Methodology
Fatal accident statistics were sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and population data was sourced from the US Census Bureau.
This story was produced by TruckInfo.net and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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