Motor vehicle travel is the primary means of transportation in the United States, providing an unprecedented degree of mobility. Yet for all its advantages, injuries resulting from motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for age 4 and every age 11 through 27 (based on 2009 data). The mission of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is to reduce deaths, injuries, and economic losses from motor vehicle crashes. In 2010, 32,885 people were killed in the estimated 5,419,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes; 2,239,000 people were injured; and 3,847,000 crashes involved property damage only. Compared to 2009, this is a 3-percent decrease in the number of fatalities, and a 2-percent decrease in the number of police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes, 1-percent increase in the number of people injured, and 3-percent decrease in crashes involving property damage. An average of 90 people died each day in motor vehicle crashes in 2010 – one every 16 minutes. Fortunately, much progress has been made in reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our Nation’s highways. In 2010, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles of travel (VMT) fell to an historic low of 1.11. The 2001 rate was 1.51 per 100 million VMT. The National Occupant Protection Use Survey (NOPUS) reported an 85-percent seat belt use rate nationwide for 2010. Data show a decrease in the number of fatalities in alcohol- impaired-driving crashes – from 13,290 in 2001 to 10,228 in 2010. Fatalities in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes when compared to the previous year (2009) decreased by 4.9 percent from 10,759 to 10,228. 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. The following terms will be used to define motorcycle occupants: a motorcycle rider is the operator only; a passenger is any person seated on the motorcycle but not in control of the motorcycle; and any combined reference to the “motorcycle rider” (operator) as well as the “passenger” will be referred to as motorcyclists. NHTSA publications prior to 2007 may not reflect this terminology. (Author/publisher)
Abstract