Holiday season fatal car accidents and deaths
Over the nine holiday seasons from 2015 to 2023, counted from December 23 to January 1, 9,197 people died in 8,413 fatal car accidents on US roads, 2% more than on the same days of the week around it.
Over ten days that is about a normal stretch of winter driving, with one exception: January 1, with 1,180 deaths against 917 on a normal day.
Holiday season, day by day, against a normal day
Most of the season runs close to a normal winter day or below it. New Year's Day stands out; see New Year's Eve for the night before it, hour by hour. 33% of the deaths were in crashes with a driver at .08 blood alcohol or more, against 29% on normal days.
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count
States where the holiday season is deadlier than a normal day
In Delaware, the holiday season had 48% more road deaths than the same days of the week around it, the largest rise of the 45 states with enough deaths to compare, ahead of Oregon and Connecticut. In 18 states it had fewer deaths than a normal day, most of all Nebraska (-19%).
- Delaware+48%
- Oregon+39%
- Connecticut+34%
- Wisconsin+25%
- Hawaii+25%
- Maryland+18%
- New York+14%
- New Jersey+14%
- Minnesota+13%
- South Carolina+13%
- Florida+12%
- Alabama+11%
- Colorado+9%
- Georgia+9%
- Idaho+8%
- Virginia+7%
- Arkansas+7%
- Louisiana+7%
- Utah+6%
- South Dakota+5%
- Michigan+4%
- Massachusetts+2%
- Indiana+1%
- Oklahoma+1%
- Pennsylvania+1%
- Montana0%
- Maine0%
- North Carolina0%
- Tennessee0%
- California-3%
- Kansas-4%
- Texas-5%
- Nevada-6%
- Illinois-6%
- Kentucky-6%
- Mississippi-8%
- Ohio-8%
- Arizona-9%
- Washington-9%
- Iowa-9%
- West Virginia-12%
- New Mexico-13%
- Missouri-13%
- New Hampshire-18%
- Nebraska-19%
A state is compared from 20 deaths on the holiday season and as many on its normal days; the other 6 have too few. With counts this size, a change of 20% can be a handful of deaths.
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count
Holiday season road deaths in every state, 2015 to 2023
Alabama has the most the holiday season road deaths per resident: 5.67 per million residents per season, against 3.11 across the United States. Massachusetts has the fewest of the 51 states ranked. A rate is given from 10 deaths; the 0 states under that say "Not enough data".
| State | Per million residents | Deaths (total) | Fatal crashes (total) | Pedestrians (total) | Change on normal day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama | 5.67 | 253 | 223 | 38 | +10.6% |
| 2 | Mississippi | 5.65 | 151 | 137 | 16 | -7.9% |
| 3 | South Carolina | 5.62 | 259 | 239 | 44 | +12.5% |
| 4 | Florida | 5.06 | 977 | 894 | 226 | +12.3% |
| 5 | Louisiana | 4.91 | 205 | 185 | 36 | +6.8% |
| 6 | Arkansas | 4.82 | 131 | 122 | 24 | +6.9% |
| 7 | New Mexico | 4.70 | 89 | 83 | 21 | -12.7% |
| 8 | Georgia | 4.26 | 407 | 380 | 73 | +9.2% |
| 9 | Oklahoma | 4.23 | 151 | 135 | 24 | +0.7% |
| 10 | Delaware | 4.19 | 37 | 33 | 15 | +48.0% |
| 11 | Tennessee | 4.09 | 252 | 229 | 50 | -0.5% |
| 12 | Montana | 4.02 | 39 | 36 | 3 | 0.0% |
| 13 | Oregon | 4.01 | 151 | 133 | 30 | +39.2% |
| 14 | Arizona | 3.89 | 251 | 233 | 57 | -8.8% |
| 15 | Kentucky | 3.84 | 155 | 142 | 28 | -6.2% |
| 16 | West Virginia | 3.64 | 59 | 54 | 4 | -11.9% |
| 17 | Texas | 3.63 | 947 | 860 | 166 | -4.7% |
| 18 | North Carolina | 3.61 | 339 | 318 | 55 | -0.3% |
| 19 | Alaska | 3.47 | 23 | 22 | 8 | Not enough data |
| 20 | Kansas | 3.42 | 90 | 80 | 7 | -4.1% |
| 21 | Missouri | 3.33 | 184 | 173 | 23 | -13.4% |
| 22 | Maine | 3.11 | 38 | 35 | 8 | 0.0% |
| 23 | Nevada | 3.09 | 85 | 71 | 20 | -5.6% |
| 24 | Indiana | 3.07 | 186 | 168 | 18 | +0.8% |
| 25 | Wyoming | 3.06 | 16 | 15 | 1 | Not enough data |
| 26 | South Dakota | 3.01 | 24 | 22 | 4 | +5.3% |
| 27 | California | 2.78 | 984 | 901 | 279 | -3.1% |
| 28 | Virginia | 2.74 | 211 | 202 | 39 | +7.2% |
| 29 | Connecticut | 2.66 | 86 | 81 | 22 | +34.0% |
| 30 | Idaho | 2.64 | 43 | 41 | 9 | +8.0% |
| 31 | Colorado | 2.61 | 134 | 124 | 20 | +9.4% |
| 32 | Michigan | 2.55 | 230 | 209 | 44 | +3.7% |
| 32 | Wisconsin | 2.55 | 134 | 116 | 13 | +25.0% |
| 34 | Maryland | 2.53 | 139 | 128 | 40 | +17.8% |
| 35 | Nebraska | 2.46 | 43 | 37 | 3 | -18.6% |
| 36 | Iowa | 2.42 | 69 | 63 | 3 | -9.2% |
| 37 | Hawaii | 2.40 | 31 | 30 | 9 | +25.0% |
| 38 | Vermont | 2.28 | 13 | 10 | 0 | Not enough data |
| 39 | Ohio | 2.26 | 238 | 210 | 37 | -8.1% |
| 40 | Pennsylvania | 2.16 | 251 | 231 | 49 | +0.5% |
| 41 | Illinois | 2.09 | 239 | 211 | 48 | -5.8% |
| 42 | North Dakota | 2.03 | 14 | 14 | 3 | Not enough data |
| 43 | New Jersey | 2.01 | 164 | 150 | 50 | +13.5% |
| 44 | Utah | 1.97 | 57 | 54 | 11 | +5.6% |
| 45 | Washington | 1.88 | 128 | 123 | 33 | -8.9% |
| 46 | New Hampshire | 1.87 | 23 | 23 | 8 | -18.4% |
| 47 | Rhode Island | 1.86 | 18 | 18 | 3 | Not enough data |
| 48 | District of Columbia | 1.78 | 11 | 11 | 6 | Not enough data |
| 49 | Minnesota | 1.66 | 84 | 77 | 14 | +12.8% |
| 50 | New York | 1.50 | 265 | 245 | 92 | +14.2% |
| 51 | Massachusetts | 1.43 | 89 | 82 | 23 | +2.3% |
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count
Download the holiday season road deaths in every state as CSV. Free to reuse with credit: “Fatal Crash Data, fatalcrashdata.com/holiday-season-fatal-car-accidents/, from NHTSA FARS (2024 Annual Report File).”
Every holiday season from 2015 to 2023
The deadliest was 2022 (December 23, 2022, to January 1, 2023), with 1,137 road deaths; the least deadly 2018 (December 23, 2018, to January 1, 2019), with 931.
| Year | Dates | Deaths | Fatal crashes | Normal (average) | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | December 23, 2023, to January 1, 2024 | 1,048 | 964 | 997 | +5.1% |
| 2022 | December 23, 2022, to January 1, 2023 | 1,137 | 1,038 | 1094 | +3.9% |
| 2021 | December 23, 2021, to January 1, 2022 | 1,130 | 1,052 | 1126 | +0.4% |
| 2020 | December 23, 2020, to January 1, 2021 | 1,068 | 968 | 1051 | +1.6% |
| 2019 | December 23, 2019, to January 1, 2020 | 965 | 888 | 903 | +6.9% |
| 2018 | December 23, 2018, to January 1, 2019 | 931 | 855 | 902 | +3.3% |
| 2017 | December 23, 2017, to January 1, 2018 | 937 | 860 | 965 | -2.9% |
| 2016 | December 23, 2016, to January 1, 2017 | 1,021 | 939 | 999 | +2.2% |
| 2015 | December 23, 2015, to January 1, 2016 | 960 | 849 | 951 | +0.9% |
Source: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 2024 Annual Report File (released April 2026, subject to revision). How we count
Questions about the holiday season fatal car accidents
- How many car accidents happen on the holiday season?
- NHTSA's file counts only crashes in which someone died: 8,413 over the nine holiday seasons from 2015 to 2023 (December 23 to January 1), about 935 a year, which killed 9,197 people. Crashes with injuries or damage only are not in it; those totals come from state police and transportation departments, and no national count of them exists by day. Source: NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS).
- Is the holiday season more dangerous to drive than a normal day?
- Counted from December 23 to January 1, 2% more deaths than on the same days of the week in the weeks around it. Over ten days that is about a normal stretch of winter driving, with one exception: January 1, with 1,180 deaths against 917 on a normal day.
- Which state has the most road deaths per resident on the holiday season?
- Alabama, with 5.67 road deaths per million residents per season, against 3.11 across the United States. Massachusetts has the lowest of the 51 states with enough deaths to rank, at 1.43.
- Were more people killed on the holiday season in some years than others?
- The deadliest of the nine holiday seasons from 2015 to 2023 was 2022 (December 23, 2022, to January 1, 2023), with 1,137 deaths; the least deadly 2018 (December 23, 2018, to January 1, 2019), with 931.
How the the holiday season figures are counted
Every fatal crash NHTSA dated from December 23 to January 1, in the years 2015 to 2023, each named by the year of its December (2023 runs into 2024; the night of December 31, 2024, needs NHTSA's 2025 file). The normal day it is set against is the same days of the week two and three weeks before and after, averaged for each year, so the weekday and the season match. Where one side of that would touch another holiday or run past the years the file holds, both sides are left out, so the average stays centred on the holiday season's own weeks: 4 comparison blocks a year. Deaths within 30 days of the crash count on the day of the crash. Drunk driving deaths are NHTSA's alcohol-impaired measure: a driver at .08 or more, with missing tests filled in by NHTSA. Rates per million residents use Census Bureau population estimates summed over the years. The full method.