Chart assignment

Charts to read and discuss

Read each chart, then answer its questions. Every chart shows its source and date; open it for a table of the numbers and the data to download.

  1. How fast is car insurance getting more expensive?
  2. Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?

Chart 1 of 2 · Inflation

How fast is car insurance getting more expensive?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

Car insurance prices changed by -5% in the 12 months to September 2026 (a minus sign means they fell). Their fastest rise since 1976 came in April 2024, when prices were 22.6% higher than in April 2023. Each point compares a month with the same month a year earlier. BLS priced car insurance only every few months before 1970, so the chart starts in 1971. BLS collected no prices in October 2025 and published none for car insurance in November 2025, so those months and the same months of 2026 are missing.

Questions to discuss

  1. In one sentence of your own, what does this chart show?
  2. Find the biggest change or difference in the chart. What might explain it?
  3. Who collected these numbers, and how recent are they? What else would you want to know before drawing a conclusion?

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Price Index (motor vehicle insurance) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Sep 30, 2026

Open the chart and its numbers

Chart 2 of 2 · Road safety

Are U.S. roads getting safer per mile driven?

The interactive chart needs JavaScript. The numbers are on the chart's page.

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.

How to read this chart

Each point is the number of people killed in traffic crashes for every 100 million miles Americans drove that year. Dividing by miles driven turns a count into a rate, so years when people drove more or less can be compared fairly.

Questions to discuss

  1. About what fraction of the 1980 rate is the rate in the latest year?
  2. In 2020 people drove less, but the rate went up. What could explain that?
  3. Why is deaths per mile a fairer way to compare years than the total number of deaths?

Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and FHWA Highway Statistics (table VM-2) (Public domain (U.S. government work)) · Data as of Dec 31, 2024

Open the chart and its numbers

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