Roadway safety has improved significantly so far this year, with traffic fatalities dropping sharply.
According to the latest National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data, traffic fatalities in the first half of 2025 dropped by more than 8%. That is the largest decrease in the first six months since 2008, when traffic deaths declined by 10%.
Most of this decline happened in the second quarter, marking the biggest quarterly drop in 15 years. This occurred even with an increase in vehicle miles traveled (VMT).
“These preliminary figures are encouraging and reflect NHTSA’s close collaboration with state and local partners, especially law enforcement, to improve safety on our roads,” NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said in a statement. “But even as we see progress, these numbers are far too high, and we remain focused on reducing traffic fatalities even further.”
So far this year, 17,140 people have died on U.S. roadways. While this is slightly higher than in 2019, the fatality rate of 1.06 is the lowest since 2014, when it was 1.01. The fatality rate measures deaths per 100 million VMT.
Although traffic fatalities are slightly up compared to 2019, Americans are also driving much more.
Data from the Federal Highway Administration shows that this year’s VMT is the highest on record for the first six months.
More miles logged is the driving force behind the drop in the traffic fatality rate. Comparatively, there were fewer deaths in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic took drivers off the road. The VMT for the first half of 2020 was the lowest since 2001, sending the fatality rate to 1.25.
Traffic fatalities then increased in seven consecutive quarters from the third quarter of 2020 through the first quarter of 2022. Since then, traffic deaths have gone down in 13 consecutive quarters, marking the second-largest streak of fewer deaths since at least 1981.
In the first half of 2025, traffic fatalities were down coast to coast in all 10 geographic regions. The largest drops were in Region 2 (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) and Region 3 (District of Columbia, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia), both experiencing a 15% decline.
At the state level, traffic fatalities were down in all but 11 states and unchanged in one (Rhode Island). The largest decrease as a percentage change was in Connecticut (minus 32.5%). Hawaii saw the largest increase (48%). Rhode Island had the lowest fatality rate at 0.47, whereas West Virginia had the highest at 1.63.
NHTSA’s early estimates include only the total number of traffic fatalities. They do not drill down by vehicle type and other categories. Earlier this year, the NHTSA released data showing traffic deaths involving large trucks were trending downward in the first half of 2024.
Traffic fatality numbers for 2025 are preliminary and are likely to change slightly as the data is revised. Final numbers are published two years after the preliminary ones, with finalized data for 2024 expected next year. LL
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