Christmas 2017: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over Christmas 2017, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Monday), 270 people died in 241 fatal car accidents on US roads, 2% fewer than the 275 on the same weekdays around it. It was the fewest of the ten from 2015 to 2024. Christmas Day alone: 79 deaths, against 90 on a normal day. Christmas Eve alone: 99 deaths, against 102 on a normal day.
2016 · 2018 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Christmas 2017 road deaths in every state
California had the most, 37 deaths, then Florida with 32. In 43 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 37 | 34 | 11 |
| Florida | 32 | 31 | 6 |
| Texas | 26 | 23 | 5 |
| Georgia | 14 | 13 | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | 9 | 3 |
| Illinois | 10 | 9 | 0 |
| Missouri | 10 | 8 | 2 |
| Ohio | 8 | 6 | 0 |
| Arizona | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Mississippi | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Maryland | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Virginia | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Kentucky | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| Kansas | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Alabama | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Arkansas | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| Michigan | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| New Jersey | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| New Mexico | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| South Carolina | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| Colorado | 5 | 3 | 1 |
| Minnesota | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| New York | 4 | 4 | 1 |
| Tennessee | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Washington | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| North Carolina | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Connecticut | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Louisiana | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Oregon | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| District of Columbia | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Indiana | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Nevada | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Oklahoma | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| West Virginia | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Alaska | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Hawaii | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Iowa | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Massachusetts | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Montana | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| South Dakota | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Utah | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Delaware | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Idaho | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Maine | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nebraska | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| North 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 2017 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on Christmas 2017?
- 270 people died in 241 fatal crashes on US roads over Christmas 2017, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Monday), 2% fewer than the 275 on the same weekdays around it. Of them, 44 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on Christmas 2017?
- California, with 37 deaths. In 43 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was Christmas 2017 deadlier than usual?
- 270 road deaths was the fewest of the ten from 2015 to 2024; the average is 294.
Where the Christmas 2017 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 24 to 26 in 2017, 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.