Christmas 2015: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over Christmas 2015, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Friday), 308 people died in 271 fatal car accidents on US roads, 3% fewer than the 317 on the same weekdays around it. It was the second most of the ten from 2015 to 2024. Christmas Day alone: 98 deaths, against 111 on a normal day. Christmas Eve alone: 97 deaths, against 94 on a normal day.
2016 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Christmas 2015 road deaths in every state
Texas had the most, 39 deaths, then Florida with 27. In 44 of 51 states and DC at least one person died; a 0 is a real count of none. One year's counts are too small to rank states by; every year together ranks them per resident.
| State | Deaths | Fatal crashes | Pedestrians |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 39 | 37 | 8 |
| Florida | 27 | 25 | 7 |
| California | 25 | 24 | 6 |
| Tennessee | 19 | 14 | 2 |
| Georgia | 13 | 12 | 3 |
| New Jersey | 11 | 10 | 4 |
| Kentucky | 11 | 8 | 0 |
| Illinois | 11 | 7 | 2 |
| Alabama | 11 | 6 | 4 |
| South Carolina | 10 | 9 | 1 |
| Ohio | 9 | 9 | 2 |
| North Carolina | 8 | 8 | 2 |
| Pennsylvania | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| Indiana | 8 | 7 | 0 |
| Louisiana | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Maryland | 6 | 6 | 2 |
| Oregon | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Michigan | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| Arizona | 6 | 4 | 1 |
| Connecticut | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| New York | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Virginia | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Oklahoma | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Missouri | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| New Mexico | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Washington | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| West Virginia | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Arkansas | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Colorado | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Iowa | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Maine | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Nebraska | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Nevada | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Alaska | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Delaware | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Kansas | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Massachusetts | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Utah | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Idaho | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Montana | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| South Dakota | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vermont | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wyoming | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count
Questions about Christmas 2015 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on Christmas 2015?
- 308 people died in 271 fatal crashes on US roads over Christmas 2015, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Friday), 3% fewer than the 317 on the same weekdays around it. Of them, 60 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on Christmas 2015?
- Texas, with 39 deaths. In 44 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was Christmas 2015 deadlier than usual?
- 308 road deaths was the second most of the ten from 2015 to 2024; the average is 294. The deadliest was 2021 and the least deadly 2017.
Where the Christmas 2015 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 24 to 26 in 2015, in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, final file. The normal day is the same weekdays in the weeks before and after, averaged (4 of them this year). How the holiday is counted.