Study: Vermont, Montana, New Hampshire Had Highest Crash Fatality Rates

Vermont, Montana, and New Hampshire were the top three states with the highest fatality rates in traffic accidents in a study of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

The study covered NHTSA data from 2017 to 2021. It showed Vermont had a fatality rate of nearly 52%, with 320 out of 616 people involved in fatal crashes who died due to injuries suffered in the crash. That was higher than the national average, which was 44.1%, based on 192,609 deaths from 436,170 people involved in fatal accidents, the study shows.

The study, conducted by Ohio Personal Injury Lawyer John Fitch, focused on the percentage of fatalities in NHSTA data among those involved in deadly traffic accidents. Next on the list was Montana, with a fatality rate of 51.2%, accounting for 1,003 deaths out of 1,958 people involved in accidents.

New Hampshire was third, with 572 fatalities out of 1,124 people involved – a fatality rate of 50.9%. South Dakota and Maine completed the top five, with fatality rates of 50.7% and 50.4% respectively. There were 1,283 people involved in fatal accidents in fourth-placed South Dakota, with 650 people succumbing to their injuries, while Maine was fifth on the list with 783 deaths.

Iowa (48.7%), Kansas (48.4%), Rhode Island (48.4%), West Virginia (48.3%) and North Dakota (48.2%) were the remaining states in the top 10. The found the lowest crash fatality rates was Utah, with a fatality rate of roughly 40.8%, where 1,385 out of 3,394 people involved in crashes lost their lives. New Mexico had the nation’s second lowest fatality rate of 41.6%, accounting for 2,076 fatalities.