Traffic Safety Facts: Crash Stats

4323341042009PDFBriefDOT HS 811 173Traffic crashesCrash dataStatisticsTables (Data)FatalitiesInjuriesUnited StatesNational Center for Statistics and Analysis (U.S.)United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety AdministrationNTL-REFERENCES AND DIRECTORIES-StatisticsNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-AccidentsNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-Highway SafetyNTL-SAFETY AND SECURITY-SAFETY AND SECURITYBTS Data DirectoryA statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first quarter of 2009 shows that an estimated 7,689 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes. This represents a decline of about 9 percent as compared to the 8,451 fatalities that occurred in the first quarter of 2008, as shown in Table 1. This will be the 12th consecutive quarter of declines in fatalities as compared to the same quarter from the previous year, as illustrated by the highlighted per-centages in Table 1. Traffic fatalities have been declining steadi-ly since reaching a near-term peak in 2005. Preliminary data re- ported by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) shows that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the first three months of 2009 dropped by about 11.7 billion miles, or about a 1.7-percent decline. Also shown in Table 1 are the fatality rates per 100 mil-lion VMT, by quarter. The methodology used to generate the estimates for the first quarter is the same as the one used by NHTSA to project the decline in the fatalities for the whole of 2008 as compared to 2007 (Early Estimates of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2008, DOT HS 811 124).85