2010 Motor Vehicle Crashes: Major Findings

In 2010, 32,885 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the United States – the lowest number of fatalities since 1949 (30,246 fatalities in 1949) (see Figure 1). This was a 2.9-percent decline in the number of people killed, from 33,883 in 2009, according to NHTSA’s 2010 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). In 2010, an estimated 2.24 million people were injured in motor vehicle traffic crashes, compared to 2.22 million in 2009 according to NHTSA’s National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) General Estimates System (GES). This slight increase (1.2% increase) in the estimated number of people injured is not statistically significant from the number of people injured in crashes in 2009.

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811552.pdf