Safety officials say more work is needed as traffic fatalities decrease to pre-pandemic levels

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s latest estimate of motor vehicle traffic fatalities brings the total number of deaths back to pre-pandemic levels seen in 2019. 

Data released recently show 36,640 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2025, a 6.7% decrease from 2024. 

The fourth quarter of 2025 was the 15th consecutive quarterly decline in fatalities beginning with Q2 2022, NHTSA says. 

If the preliminary data is realized, the percentage decrease for 2025 would be the fifth-largest in the recorded history of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), according to NHTSA’s report. 

While fatality rates dropped, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) increased by about 29.8 billion miles (0.9%) in 2025. 

The fatality rate dropped to 1.10 fatalities per 100 million VMT, the second-lowest fatality rate in recorded history. It follows a 1.08 rate observed in 2014, NTHSA says. 

NHTSA notes that during the COVID-19 pandemic, there were increases in fatalities and the fatality rates per 100 million VMT in 2020. Fatalities continued to increase into 2021 and Q1 2022. 

David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), told the Detroit News that while the fatality rates are an improvement, the nation has a “long way to go to get to the point where we can truly say we’ve turned the corner.” 

He said a similar 6.7% reduction is needed over three more consecutive years for the country to meet IIHS’s goal of fewer than 30,000 road deaths annually by 30×30. 

Harkey said several factors are helping reduce the fatality rate, including the federal and local governments, the auto industry, safety advocates, and police agencies. 

The article notes safety officials don’t have data, but they believe police enforcement has increased after a 33% decline in traffic stops between 2018 and 2022. 

Another factor could be increased traffic. Empty roadways during the pandemic era led to more people speeding, safety officials have said. 

“What we saw during the pandemic — and NHTSA did a good job of studying this — was a significant increase in the number of speeders on the roadway, and very aggressive speeders in excess of 100 miles per hour. It wasn’t unusual to see that documented throughout the country,” Harkey told the newspaper. 

Harkey also pointed to the bipartisan infrastructure package passed in 2021 and directed $550 billion in new spending. 

Safer vehicles with ADAS features are also credited as reducing roadway fatalities by safety experts, the article says. This includes features such as automatic emergency braking (AEB), blind spot monitoring, and improved seatbelt technology. 

Lastly, the article points to more and better data. 

Adam Snider, the Governors Highway Safety Association spokesman, told the newspaper that the collection and use of road data has helped state transportation departments study traffic safety more effectively and quickly. 

“We’re constantly trying to improve, using more data to identify dangerous driving hot spots and maybe potential areas of conflict between someone walking and the driver. We’re trying to be a little more predictive and proactive, instead of reactive after there’s been a tragedy, and putting in new signs or making other changes,” Snider said in the article. 

It notes that companies like INRIX are aggregating data from commercial and consumer vehicles to track traffic patterns.

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