Fatalities Down 6.3% in First Three Months of Year, NHTSA Estimates

Traffic fatalities fell roughly 6.3% in the first quarter of the year, reaching the lowest quarterly fatality rate in six years, an estimate from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows.

The NHTSA released new data estimating 8,055 people were killed in crashes in the first three months of 2025, which would mark the 12th straight quarterly decline in fatalities.

The fatality rate for the first quarter dropped to 1.05 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from the rate of 1.13 from the same period in 2024—the lowest quarterly fatality rate since the first quarter of 2019. Vehicle miles traveled in the quarter remained mostly flat at 4.3 billion miles, a 0.6% increase, according to the NHTSA.

There were big increases in fatalities and the fatality rates per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2020, and the trend of fatalities continued into 2021 and the first quarter of 2022.

Then the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2022, all four quarters of 2023 and 2024, plus the first quarter of 2025, experienced 12 consecutive quarterly declines in fatalities after seven straight quarters of year-to-year increases in fatalities, the report shows.

NHTSA estimates that fatalities fell in 33 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

States where the rate of fatalities dropped the most include Mississippi (-34.9%), Connecticut (31.3%) and Maryland (27.1%).

Idaho (33.3%), Maine (+32.1%) and Wyoming (+31.3%) saw the biggest increases in the rate of fatalities.