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Introduction
Motor vehicle travel is the primary means of transportation in the United States, providing an unprecedented degree of mobility. Yet for all its advantages, deaths and injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for persons of every age from 3 through 33 (based on 2003 data). Traffic fatalities accounted for more than 90 percent of transportation-related fatalities. The mission of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is to reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses from motor vehicle crashes. Fortunately, much progress has been made in reducing the number of deaths and serious injuries on our Nation’s highways. In 2005, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel was 1.47. The 1995 rate was 1.73 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. An 82-percent safety belt use rate nationwide and a reduction in the rate of alcohol involvement in fatal crashes — to 39 percent in 2005 from 42 percent in 1995 — were significant contributions to maintaining this consistently low fatality rate. However, much remains to be done. The economic cost alone of motor vehicle crashes in 2000 was $230.6 billion. In 2005, 43,443 people were killed in the estimated 6,159,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes, 2,699,000 people were injured, and 4,304,000 crashes involved property damage only. This overview fact sheet contains statistics on motor vehicle fatalities based on data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). FARS is a census of fatal crashes within the 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico (although Puerto Rico is not included in U.S. totals). Crash and injury statistics are based on data from the General Estimates System (GES). GES is a probability-based sample of police-reported crashes, from 60 locations across the country, from which estimates of national totals for injury and property-damage-only crashes are derived. Other fact sheets available from the National Center for Statistics and Analysis are Alcohol, Bicyclists and Other Cyclists (formerly titled Pedalcyclists), Children, Large Trucks, Motorcycles, Occupant Protection, Older Population, Pedestrians, School Transportation-Related Crashes, Speeding, State Alcohol Estimates, State Traffic Data, and Young Drivers. Detailed data on motor vehicle traffic crashes are published annually in Traffic Safety Facts: A Compilation of Motor Vehicle Crash Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System and the General Estimates System. The fact sheets and annual Traffic Safety Facts report can be accessed online at www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/ncsa. Summary
In 2005, 43,443 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes — an increase of 0.1 percent from 2004 (42,836). The fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel in 2005 was 1.47. The injury rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel in 2005 was 91. The fatality rate per 100,000 population was 14.66 in 2005, an increase of 0.5 percent from the 2004 rate of 14.59. An average of 119 persons died each day in motor vehicle crashes in 2005 — one every 12 minutes. Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for every age from 3 through 33. Table 1- Motor Vehicle Occupants and Nonoccupants Killed and Injured, 1995-2005 Table 2 - People Killed and Injured and Fatality and Injury Rates, 1995-2005 Vehicle occupants accounted for 76 percent and motorcycle riders accounted for 10 percent of traffic fatalities in 2005. The remaining 14 percent were pedestrians, pedalcyclists, and other nonoccupants. Occupant Protection
In 2005, 49 States and the District of Columbia had safety belt use laws in effect. Use rates vary widely from State to State, reflecting factors such as differences in public attitudes, enforcement practices, legal provisions, and public information and education programs. From 1975 through 2005, it is estimated that safety belts saved 211,128 lives, including 15,632 lives saved in 2005. If all passenger vehicle occupants over age 4 wore safety belts, 20,960 lives (that is, an additional 5,328) could have been saved in 2005. In 2005, it is estimated that 420 children under age 5 were saved as a result of child restraint use. An estimated 7,896 lives were saved by child restraints from 1975 through 2005. Children in rear-facing child safety seats should not be placed in the front seat of cars equipped with passenger-side air bags. The impact of a deploying air bag striking a rear-facing child safety seat could result in injury to the child. NHTSA also recommends that children age 12 and under sit in the rear seat away from the force of a deploying air bag.
In 2005, 35 percent of passenger car occupants and 37 percent of light-truck occupants involved in fatal crashes were unrestrained. In fatal crashes, 75 percent of passenger vehicle occupants who were totally ejected from vehicles were killed. Safety belts are effective in preventing total ejections: only 1 percent of the occupants reported to have been using restraints were totally ejected, compared with 30 percent of the unrestrained occupants. Table 3
Alcohol In 2005, there were 16,885 fatalities in alcohol-related crashes. This is a decrease of 0.2 percent compared to 2004 (16,919 fatalities), and it represents an average of one alcohol-related fatality every 31 minutes.
The 16,885 alcohol-related fatalities in 2005 (39% of total traffic fatalities for the year) represent a 5-percent reduction from the 17,732 alcohol-related fatalities reported in 1995 (42% of the total). NHTSA estimates that alcohol was involved in 39 percent of fatal crashes and in 7 percent of all crashes in 2005. In 2005, 14,539 fatalities (33%) occurred in crashes in which at least one driver or nonoccupant had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher. Of these 14,539 fatalities, 12,945 (30%) occurred in crashes where at least one driver (including motorcycle operators) had a BAC of .08 g/dL or higher. Over 1.4 million drivers were arrested in 2004 for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is an arrest rate of 1 for every 139 licensed drivers in the United States (2005 data not yet available). In fatal crashes in 2005, 27 percent of motorcycle operators had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher, as compared with 21 percent for drivers of light trucks, 22 percent for passenger car drivers, and 1 percent for drivers of large trucks. In fatal crashes in 2005, the highest percentages of drivers with BAC levels .08 g/dL or higher were recorded for drivers 21-24 years old (32%), followed by ages 25-34 (28%) and 35-44 (23%). Figure 1
Figure 2
Speeding
NHTSA considers a crash to be speeding-related if the driver was charged with a speeding-related offense or if an officer indicated that racing, driving too fast for conditions, or exceeding the posted speed limit was a contributing factor in the crash. Figure 3
Speeding is one of the most prevalent factors contributing to traffic crashes. The economic cost to society of speeding-related crashes is estimated by NHTSA to be $40.4 billion per year. In 2005, speeding was a contributing factor in 30 percent of all fatal crashes, and 13,113 lives were lost in speeding-related crashes. For drivers involved in fatal crashes, young males are the most likely to be speeding. With increase in driver age, the proportion of all crashes that are speeding-related decreases. In 2005, 38 percent of the 15- to 20-year-old male drivers who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding at the time of the crash.
In 2005, 86 percent of speeding-related fatalities occurred on roads that were not Interstate highways. Alcohol and speeding are clearly a deadly combination. Speeding involvement is prevalent for drivers involved in alcohol-related crashes. In 2005, 40 percent of the drivers with BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher who were involved in fatal crashes were speeding, compared with only 14 percent of the drivers with BAC levels of .00 (i.e., no alcohol) involved in fatal crashes. Figure 4
Motorcycles
The 4,553 motorcyclist fatalities in 2005 accounted for 10 percent of all traffic fatalities for the year. An additional 87,000 motorcycle riders were injured. Per vehicle mile traveled in 2004, motorcyclists were 34 times more likely than passenger car occupants to die in a motor vehicle traffic crash and 8 times more likely to be injured. Figure 5
Figure 6
In 2005, 42 percent of fatally injured motorcycle operators and 50 percent of fatally injured passengers were not wearing helmets at the time of the crash. Nearly one out of four motorcycle operators (24%) involved in fatal crashes in 2005 were operating the vehicle with an invalid license at the time of the collision. The percentage of motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes in 2005 who had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher — 27 percent — was higher than for any other type of motor vehicle driver. NHTSA estimates that helmets saved the lives of 1,546 motorcyclists in 2005. If all motorcyclists had worn helmets, an additional 728 lives could have been saved. Large Trucks
In 2005, 12 percent (5,212) of all the motor vehicle traffic fatalities reported involved large trucks (gross vehicle weight rating greater than 10,000 pounds). Of the fatalities that resulted from crashes involving large trucks, 76 percent were occupants of other vehicles, 9 percent were nonoccupants, and 15 percent were occupants of large trucks. Table 4
Large trucks accounted for 8 percent of all vehicles involved in fatal crashes and 4 percent of all vehicles involved in injury and property-damage-only crashes in 2005. Three-quarters (75%) of the large trucks involved in fatal crashes in 2005 collided with other motor vehicles in transport. Only 1 percent of the drivers of large trucks involved in fatal crashes in 2005 had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher, compared with 22 percent for passenger cars, 21 percent for light trucks, and 27 percent for motorcycles.
Cars, Light Trucks, and Vans In 2005, 31,415 occupants of passenger vehicles were killed in traffic crashes and an additional 2,446,000 were injured, accounting for 84 percent of all occupant fatalities (passenger cars 49%, light trucks and vans 35%) and 95 percent of all occupants injured (passenger cars 61%, light trucks and vans 34%).
Occupant fatalities in single-vehicle crashes accounted for 43 percent of all motor vehicle fatalities in 2005. Occupant fatalities in multiple-vehicle crashes accounted for 43 percent of all fatalities, and the remaining 14 percent were nonoccupant fatalities (pedestrians, pedalcyclists, etc.). Figure 7
In 2005, 59 percent of passenger vehicle occupant fatalities occurred in vehicles that sustained frontal damage. Ejection from the vehicle accounted for 27 percent of all passenger vehicle occupant fatalities. The ejection rate for occupants of light trucks in fatal crashes was twice the rate of passenger car occupants. More than half (55%) of the passenger vehicle occupants killed in traffic crashes in 2005 were unrestrained. SUVs also had the highest rollover rate for passenger vehicles in injury crashes — 9 percent, compared with 7 percent for pickups, 5 percent for vans, and 4 percent for passenger cars. Driver Age
In 2005, 12 percent of the total U.S. resident population (more than 36 million) were people age 65 years and older. In 2005, 191,000 older individuals were injured in traffic crashes, accounting for 7 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year. These older individuals made up 15 percent of all traffic fatalities, 14 percent of all vehicle occupant fatalities, and 20 percent of all pedestrian fatalities. The percentage of older drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2005 who had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher (5%) was lower than for any other group of adult drivers. In two-vehicle fatal crashes involving an older driver and a younger driver, the vehicle driven by the older person was nearly twice as likely to be the one that was struck (60% and 33%, respectively). In 45 percent of these crashes, both vehicles were proceeding straight at the time of the collision. In 25 percent, the older drivers were turning left — 5 times more often than the younger drivers. Youth In 2005, 16- to 24-year-olds represented 24 percent of all traffic fatalities compared with 5 percent for age 15 and under, 46 percent for ages 25 to 54, and 25 percent for ages 55 and over. On a per population basis, drivers under the age of 25 had the highest rate of involvement in fatal crashes of any age group. In 2005, 16 percent of 16- to 20-year-old drivers involved in fatal crashes had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher. The highest percentages were for drivers age 21 to 24 and 25 to 34 (32% and 28%, respectively). Nearly one-fifth (18%) of all children between the ages of 5 and 9 who were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes were pedestrians. Children age 15 and under accounted for 17 percent of the pedestrian fatalities in 2005. Passenger vehicle occupants age 10 to 24 involved in fatal crashes had the lowest restraint use rate (56%), and those over age 65 had the highest rate (75%). Male/Female Fatal Crash Involvement
In 2005, the fatal crash involvement rate per 100,000 population was almost 3 times higher for male drivers than for females. Males accounted for 70 percent of all traffic fatalities, 70 percent of all pedestrian fatalities, and 87 percent of all pedalcyclist fatalities in 2005. Among male drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2005, 23 percent had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher, compared with 13 percent of the female drivers involved in fatal crashes. Among female drivers of passenger vehicles involved in fatal crashes in 2005, 25 percent were unrestrained at the time of the collision, compared with 38 percent of male drivers in fatal crashes. Pedestrians
In 2005, 64,000 pedestrians were injured and 4,881 were killed in traffic crashes in the United States, representing 2 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes and 11 percent of all traffic fatalities. On average, a pedestrian is killed in a motor vehicle crash every 108 minutes, and one is injured every 8 minutes. Alcohol involvement — either for the driver or the pedestrian — was reported in 44 percent of the traffic crashes that resulted in pedestrian fatalities. Of the pedestrians involved, 32 percent had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher. Of the drivers involved in fatal crashes, only 11 percent had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher. In 5 percent of the crashes, both the driver and the pedestrian had BAC levels of .08 g/dL or higher. Pedalcyclists
In 2005, 784 pedalcyclists were killed and an additional 45,000 were injured in traffic crashes. Pedalcyclists made up 2 percent of all traffic fatalities and 2 percent of all the people injured in traffic crashes during the year. Most of the pedalcyclists injured or killed in 2005 were males (80% and 87%, respectively), and most were between the ages of 5 and 44 (70% and 59%, respectively). Nearly one-fifth (17%) of the pedalcyclists killed in traffic crashes in 2005 were between the ages of 5 and 15. Table 5
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