Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths — United States and 28 Other High-Income Countries, 2015 and 2019
Merissa A. Yellman, Erin K. Sauber‐Schatz
Abstract
Motor vehicle crashes are preventable, yet they continue to be a leading cause of death in the United States. An average of 36,791 crash deaths occurred each year (101 deaths each day) during 2015-2019 in the United States. To measure progress in reducing motor vehicle crash deaths, CDC calculated population-based, distance-based, and vehicle-based death rates in 2015 and 2019, as well as average rates and average percent changes from 2015 to 2019, for the United States and 28 other high-income countries for which data were available. In 2019, the population-based death rate in the United States (11.1 per 100,000 population; 36,355 deaths) was the highest among the 29 high-income countries and was 2.3 times the average rate of the 28 other high-income countries (4.8). The 2019 U.S. distance-based death rate (1.11 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled) was higher than the average rate among 20 other high-income countries (0.92), and the 2019 U.S. vehicle-based death rate (1.21 per 10,000 registered vehicles) was higher than the average rate among 27 other high-income countries (0.78). The population-based death rate in the United States increased 0.1% from 2015 to 2019, whereas the average change among 27 other high-income countries was -10.4%. Widespread implementation of proven strategies and the Safe System approach, which accounts for human error and works to protect everyone on the road, (1) can help reduce motor vehicle crash deaths in the United States.