The Number of People Killed in New York Car Accidents

A motor vehicle, such as a car, SUV, pickup truck, van or motorcycle, gives us the means to conveniently travel to various destinations. These modes of transportation make our lives easier by providing independence. However, operating a motor vehicle carries risks and every year, thousands of people are killed in traffic crashes.

According to the preliminary data for traffic fatalities across the country, there were 31,110 deaths from January to October 2008. Although this number represents a 10 percent decline from 2007, which had 41,059 deaths caused by traffic accidents during the entire year, the number is still alarming. Based on these figures, over one hundred people are killed in a car accident each day or other traffic-related crash. In New York, there were 1,333 people killed in traffic accidents in 2007 alone.

The following is a breakdown of the number of traffic deaths in the United States for the months reported in 2008:

January	2,816
February	2,805
March	2,804
April	2,935
May	3,212
June	3,291
July	3,287
August	3,612
September	3,075
October	3,273
Total	31,110

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration calculated a death rate of 1.28 per 100 million vehicle miles driven, based on the number of deaths in the first nine months of 2008.

The information posted in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Traffic Safety Facts comes from numerous sources including the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), FastFARS, Monthly Fatality Counts (MFC) and Motor Gasoline Consumption (MGC). The Fatality Analysis Reporting System is a census of fatal traffic accidents in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The information included in FARS are accidents occurring on a traffic way that result in at least one death within 30 days of the crash.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Traffic Safety Facts – Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities From January to October 2008.