US motor vehicle deaths drop slightly in first half of 2017, but remain higher than two years ago

Preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council indicate motor vehicle deaths in the first six months of 2017 are one per cent lower than they were during the same six-month period in 2016. However, it says the country is fresh off the steepest estimated two-year increase in motor vehicle deaths since 1964 and it is too early to conclude whether the upward trend is over. The estimated deaths during the first six months of 2017 still are eight per cent higher than the 2015 six-month estimates, and the
August 17, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
Preliminary estimates from the 4953 National Safety Council indicate motor vehicle deaths in the first six months of 2017 are one per cent lower than they were during the same six-month period in 2016. However, it says the country is fresh off the steepest estimated two-year increase in motor vehicle deaths since 1964 and it is too early to conclude whether the upward trend is over.


The estimated deaths during the first six months of 2017 still are eight per cent higher than the 2015 six-month estimates, and the final six months of the calendar year – July to December – tend to be deadlier than the first six. An estimated 18,680 people have been killed on U.S. roads since January and 2.1 million were seriously injured. The total estimated cost of these deaths and injuries is US$191 billion.

"The price of our cultural complacency is more than a hundred fatalities each day," said Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council. "Although the numbers may be levelling off, the Road to Zero deaths will require accelerating improvements in technology, engaging drivers and investing in our infrastructure."

The National Safety Council has tracked fatality trends and issued estimates for nearly 100 years. Last winter, the Council estimated as many as 40,000 people were killed on the roads in 2016, a six per cent rise over 2015 and the largest two-year percentage increase in deaths in 53 years. Those estimates, as well as the 2017 preliminary estimates, are subject to slight increases and decreases as the data mature.   

Factors impacting motor vehicle fatality trends include an improved economy and lower gas prices, both of which have helped fuel a 1.7 percent increase in miles driven from 2016 to 2017.

Parking & Access Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Barcelona's bike share scheme a life saver
    January 26, 2012
    A recent study of the health benefits of Barcelona's Bicing communal bike share scheme, reveals it is a life-saver, responsible for saving 12 lives a year. Barcelona's community bicycle programme, Bicing, was inaugurated in March 2007. One of several schemes operated in cities around the world by Clear Channel, it has fulfilled its role of providing an efficient, ecologically friendly and critically important form of transport, helping to increase urban mobility and reduce street congestion. Clear Channel h
    Read More
  • High level support for US DOT decision on vehicle to vehicle technology
    February 4, 2014
    The US Department of Transportation's (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is to begin taking steps to enable vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication technology for light vehicles. This technology would improve safety by allowing vehicles to communicate with each other and ultimately avoid many crashes altogether by exchanging basic safety data, such as speed and position, ten times per second. DOT research indicates that safety applications using V2V technology can address a large
    Read More
  • Future of US cooperative infrastructure networks
    July 31, 2012
    Peter H. Appel, the new Administrator of the USDOT's Research and Innovative Technology Administration, on his vision of the US's future cooperative infrastructure networks. Peter H. Appel comes to the post of Administrator of the US Department of Transportation's Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) from a background in transportation-related work which stretches back over 20 years. Most recently with management consultancy A. T. Kearney, Inc., where he focused on busin
    Read More
  • Open road tolling: safer with less congestion
    January 30, 2012
    Michael J. Davis of PBS&J looks at the positive effect that open road tolling can have on safety
    Read More

Highlighted Content