Safer roads? Traffic deaths drop as enforcement ramps up
How about some good news for truckers? With the recent calls to improve highway safety, there could be a small glimmer of hope. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is projecting a nearly 7% decrease in traffic fatalities nationwide for 2025.
If these estimates hold true, it would mark the 15th consecutive quarterly decline in traffic fatalities and the fifth-largest decrease in the recorded history of the Fatality Analysis Reporting System.
This decrease coincides with an increase in vehicle miles traveled, according to the Federal Highway Administration’s preliminary data.
NHTSA cited strengthening partnerships with law enforcement, cracking down on unqualified truck drivers and making newer, safer cars more affordable as reasons for the decrease in traffic fatalities.
“In the past year alone, we’ve partnered with our incredible law enforcement officers to get dangerous foreign truck drivers off the roads and educate the public about the dangers of distracted driving, drunk driving, and driving without a seat belt,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said.
The data estimates showed a decrease in traffic fatalities in 39 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
“NHTSA is doing our part by doubling down on safety strategies that reduce risky driving behaviors before they cost lives,” said NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison.
Standing before a wall of 4,000 car keys — representing the number of people injured in distracted driving crashes every four and a half days — NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison announced the good news that road fatalities declined significantly in 2025.… pic.twitter.com/T0a6xGELXV
— nhtsagov (@NHTSAgov) April 3, 2026
Annual traffic fatality data for 2024 was also recently released.
That data revealed a decrease in overall fatalities from the previous year and a lower fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
Large-truck occupant fatalities also decreased.
Categories where an increase in fatalities for 2024 included traffic crashes involving older drivers and SUV-occupant fatalities.
In 2024, there were 3,208 people killed and more than 315,000 people injured in traffic crashes involving distracted drivers, NHTSA said.
Through April 13, NHTSA’s annual national campaign will remind the public of the financial, legal, and even deadly consequences of driving distracted.
According to the U.S. DOT, 18 people are injured every half hour in distracted driving crashes, and one person is killed about every 2.5 hours. LL