{"chart":{"slug":"traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven","title":"Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?","takeaway":"In 2024 there were 1.19 deaths for every 100 million miles driven, down from 3.35 in 1980. The lowest rate was 1.08 in 2014; it jumped to 1.34 in 2020, when people drove less but deaths rose. Miles driven are the Federal Highway Administration's estimates.","topic":"Road safety","chart_type":"line","ranking":false,"x_label":"Year","y_label":"Deaths per 100 million vehicle miles","unit":null,"points_count":45,"source":{"name":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2)","url":"https://www.nhtsa.gov/research-data/fatality-analysis-reporting-system-fars"},"license":{"name":"Public domain (U.S. government work)","url":"https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright"},"data_as_of":"2024-12-31","updated_at":"2026-10-17T18:50:41.661Z","url":"https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven","api_url":"https://chart.ly/api/v1/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven","csv_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven/data.csv","image_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven/image.png","embed_url":"https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven/embed","credit":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2), via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven)","credit_html":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2), via \u003ca href=\"https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven\"\u003eChartly\u003c/a\u003e","average_label":null,"zero_axis":true,"data":[{"label":"1980","value":3.35},{"label":"1981","value":3.17},{"label":"1982","value":2.76},{"label":"1983","value":2.58},{"label":"1984","value":2.57},{"label":"1985","value":2.47},{"label":"1986","value":2.51},{"label":"1987","value":2.41},{"label":"1988","value":2.32},{"label":"1989","value":2.17},{"label":"1990","value":2.08},{"label":"1991","value":1.91},{"label":"1992","value":1.75},{"label":"1993","value":1.75},{"label":"1994","value":1.73},{"label":"1995","value":1.73},{"label":"1996","value":1.69},{"label":"1997","value":1.65},{"label":"1998","value":1.58},{"label":"1999","value":1.55},{"label":"2000","value":1.53},{"label":"2001","value":1.51},{"label":"2002","value":1.51},{"label":"2003","value":1.48},{"label":"2004","value":1.44},{"label":"2005","value":1.46},{"label":"2006","value":1.42},{"label":"2007","value":1.36},{"label":"2008","value":1.26},{"label":"2009","value":1.15},{"label":"2010","value":1.11},{"label":"2011","value":1.1},{"label":"2012","value":1.14},{"label":"2013","value":1.1},{"label":"2014","value":1.08},{"label":"2015","value":1.15},{"label":"2016","value":1.19},{"label":"2017","value":1.17},{"label":"2018","value":1.14},{"label":"2019","value":1.11},{"label":"2020","value":1.34},{"label":"2021","value":1.38},{"label":"2022","value":1.34},{"label":"2023","value":1.26},{"label":"2024","value":1.19}],"annotations":[]},"docs":"https://chart.ly/developers","terms":"Free to use with credit: wherever you show or quote a chart's data, name Chartly with a link to that chart's url (each chart's credit line does both) and credit its source as its license asks.","credit":"NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2), via Chartly (https://chart.ly/charts/traffic-deaths-per-mile-driven)"}