NHTSA Traffic Safety Facts
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has published the 2023 Traffic Safety Facts.
The Traffic Safety Facts is a collection of annual reports and publications detailing statistics on motor vehicle traffic crashes and trends, including topics like speeding, alcohol-impaired driving, pedestrian safety, and occupant protection.
These facts are compiled from the agency's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), a nationwide census providing NHTSA, Congress and the American public yearly data regarding fatal injuries suffered in motor vehicle traffic crashes.
A motor vehicle traffic crash is defined as an incident that involved one or more motor vehicles in-transport that originated on or had a harmful event (injury or damage) on a public trafficway, such as a road or highway.
Crashes that occurred on private property not regularly used by the public for transport, including some parts of parking lots and driveways, are excluded in the report.
Key Findings From 2023:
- U.S. traffic fatalities decreased by 4.3% from 2022 to 2023
- Fatality rate per 100M VMT decreased by 6% from 2022 to 2023
- California traffic fatalities decreased by 11% from 2022 to 2023
- Registered vehicles & licensed drivers increased by 11%
- 54% of motorcyclists killed in 2023 were not wearing helmets
Who is NHTSA?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is responsible for keeping people safe on America's roadways, by enforcing vehicle performance standards and partnerships with state and local governments to reduce deaths, injuries, & economic loss from vehicle crashes.
NHTSA responsibilities include:
- Deploying safety standards
- Overseeing unsafe vehicle recalls
- Enforcing CAFE standards
- Fighting odometer fraud
