The number of motor vehicle crash fatalities on U.S. roadways in 2014 continued the general decline that started in 2006. The Nation lost 32,675 people in crashes on roadways during 2014, down from 32,894 in 2013. The estimated number of people injured on the Nation’s roads increased in 2014, rising from 2.31 to 2.34 million injured people. Fatalities declined from 2013 to 2014 in almost all segments of the population–passenger vehicle occupants, large-truck occupants, pedal-cyclists, young drivers, and with alcohol-impaired driving fatalities; only pedestrian fatalities increased by 2.2 percent. Although fatalities decreased from 2013 to 2014, the estimated number of police-reported crashes that occurred on the roads increased– primarily a result of an almost 8-percent increase in crashes that resulted in no injuries, only property damage. * The Nation saw 219 fewer fatalities from motor vehicle crashes in 2014 than in 2013–a 0.7-percent decrease. * Over the past 10 years, there has been a reduction of nearly 25 percent in the number of fatalities on the Nation’s roadways. * The estimated number of injured people, which has seen subtle fluctuation in recent years, experienced a slight (and not statistically significant) increase. In 2014, there was an increase of 25,000 people injured in motor vehicle crashes over 2013. * The fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles travelled fell to 1.07, the lowest since NHTSA began collecting fatality data through the Fatality Analysis Reporting System in 1975. * While motor vehicle crash fatalities decreased by 0.7 percent overall from 2013 to 2014, the number of people who died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes decreased by 1.4 percent. In 2014, there were 9,967 people who lost their lives in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes. In 2014, there were 32,675 people who died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States, a 0.7-percent decrease from the 32,894 fatalities in 2013. This decline shows a continuation in the general decline in fatalities that started in 2006, except for the slight increase in 2012, according to NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). In 2014, an estimated 2.34 million people were injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes, compared to 2.31 million in 2013 according to NHTSA’s National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) General Estimates System (GES), an increase of 1.1 percent. The change in the number of injured people from 2013 to 2014 is not statistically significant. (Author/publisher)
Abstract