Christmas 2022: fatal car accidents and deaths
Over Christmas 2022, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Sunday), 296 people died in 270 fatal car accidents on US roads, 11% fewer than the 333 on the same weekdays around it. It was the fifth most of the ten from 2015 to 2024. Christmas Day alone: 102 deaths, against 112 on a normal day. Christmas Eve alone: 107 deaths, against 116 on a normal day.
2021 · 2023 · Every year together, day by day and state by state.
Christmas 2022 road deaths in every state
California had the most, 46 deaths, then Florida with 28. In 42 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 | 46 | 45 | 15 |
| Florida | 28 | 22 | 8 |
| Texas | 23 | 20 | 4 |
| North Carolina | 16 | 15 | 1 |
| Illinois | 12 | 11 | 3 |
| Georgia | 12 | 10 | 1 |
| Colorado | 11 | 11 | 1 |
| Tennessee | 10 | 9 | 0 |
| Arizona | 8 | 8 | 1 |
| Alabama | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| Mississippi | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| New York | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Connecticut | 7 | 5 | 1 |
| Kansas | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| Virginia | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Louisiana | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| Ohio | 6 | 3 | 0 |
| Michigan | 5 | 5 | 0 |
| South Carolina | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| Washington | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Nevada | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| New Jersey | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| Indiana | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Missouri | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Oregon | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Wisconsin | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| Delaware | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| Kentucky | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Massachusetts | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| New Mexico | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Oklahoma | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| Arkansas | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Iowa | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Maine | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Maryland | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Hawaii | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Montana | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Rhode Island | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Utah | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| West Virginia | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Alaska | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| District of Columbia | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Idaho | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Nebraska | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| New Hampshire | 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 2022 fatal car accidents
- How many people died in car crashes on Christmas 2022?
- 296 people died in 270 fatal crashes on US roads over Christmas 2022, December 24 to 26 (Christmas Day was a Sunday), 11% fewer than the 333 on the same weekdays around it. Of them, 52 were pedestrians. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Which state had the most road deaths on Christmas 2022?
- California, with 46 deaths. In 42 of 51 states and DC at least one person died on the roads.
- Was Christmas 2022 deadlier than usual?
- 296 road deaths was the fifth most of the ten from 2015 to 2024; the average is 294. The deadliest was 2021 and the least deadly 2017.
Where the Christmas 2022 numbers come from
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 24 to 26 in 2022, 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.