After a jump in motor vehicle fatalities during the pandemic, data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) shows that the number of people killed in traffic accidents continued to decline in 2024. They estimate 18,720 people died in motor vehicle crashes in the first half of 2024, which is down about 3.2% from the first half of 2023.
The National Safety Council (NSC) reports that auto-related fatalities occur most often in collisions between motor vehicles than any other type of auto incident. In 2022, the NSC reports that 19,600 people died in collisions between one vehicle and another, which made up around 42.6% of traffic-related deaths that year. In total, there were more than 9 million vehicle-on-vehicle wrecks in 2022. Around 41% of these accidents were rear-end collisions, 32.5% were collisions at an angle, 22.2% were sideswipes or other two-vehicle collisions, and just over 4% were head-on collisions.
In the United States, LendingTree reports the average metro area sees about 3.58 accidents for every 1,000 drivers, but that number fluctuates wildly from place to place.
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Brittney Meredith-Miller
Brittney Meredith-Miller is assistant editor of PropertyCasualty360.com. She can be reached at [email protected].
