USDOT Releases 2016 Fatal Traffic Crash Data

  • October 3rd, 2017

Transportation.gov: The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) today released fatal traffic crash data for calendar year 2016. According to NHTSA data, which was collected from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, 37,461 lives were lost on U.S. roads in 2016, an increase of 5.6 percent from calendar year 2015.

The number of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on U.S. roads in 2016 increased by 2.2 percent, and resulted in a fatality rate of 1.18 deaths per 100 VMT – a 2.6 percent increase from the previous year.

The 2016 national data shows that:

  • Distraction-related deaths (3,450 fatalities) decreased by 2.2 percent,
  • Drowsy driving deaths (803 fatalities) decreased by 3.5 percent,
  • Drunk driving deaths (10,497 fatalities), increased by 1.7 per­cent,
  • Speeding-related deaths (10,111 fatalities) increased by 4.0 percent,
  • Unbelted deaths (10,428 fatalities) increased by 4.6 percent,
  • Motorcyclist deaths (5,286 fatalities – the largest number of motorcyclist fatalities since 2008) increased by 5.1 percent,
  • Pedestrian deaths (5,987 fatalities – the highest number since 1990) increased by 9.0 percent,
  • Bicycle deaths (840 fatalities – the highest number since 1991) increased by 1.3 percent.
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