Motor vehicle travel is the primary means of transportation in the United States, providing an unprecedented degree of mobility. Yet for all the advantages of motor vehicle travel, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people of every age from 3 through 34 (based on 2007 data). The mission of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is to reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses from motor vehicle crashes. In 2009, 33,808 people were killed in the estimated 5,505,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes; 2,217,000 people were injured; and 3,957,000 crashes involved property damage only. Compared to 2008, this is a 10-percent decrease in the number of fatalities, and a 5-percent decrease in the number of police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes, people injured, and crashes involving property damage. An average of 93 people died each day in motor vehicle crashes in 2009 – an average of one every 16 minutes. Fortunately, much progress has been made in reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our Nation’s highways. In 2009, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel (VMT) fell to a historic low of 1.13. The 2000 rate was 1.53 per 100 million VMT. The National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) reported an 84-percent seat belt use rate nationwide for 2009. Data has also shown a decrease in the number of fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes – from 13,324 in 2000 to 10,839 in 2009. Fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes when compared to the previous year (2008) decreased by 7.4 percent from 11,711 to 10,839. 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 National Automotive Sampling System 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. (Author/publisher)
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