U.S. Traffic Fatalities Reach 40K for Third Straight Year

Traffic fatalities on U.S. roads reached an estimated 40,000 in 2018, the third year in a row in which at least that many people died in vehicle crashes, according to a new study.

Feb. 13, 2019

Feb. 13, 2019—Traffic fatalities on U.S. roads reached an estimated 40,000 in 2018, the third year in a row in which at least that many people died in vehicle crashes, according to new figures from the National Safety Council, reported Insurance Journal.

The 2018 total represents a decline of just 231 deaths—roughly 1 percent—from road deaths in 2017 but a 14 percent increase from just four years ago.

It is too early to understand the precise trends of the 2018 deaths, according to the report. Ken Kolosh, the safety council's director of statistics, said in the report that adequate collision prevention technologies are only present in a few vehicles currently on the road.