The Economic Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes

In 2019, motor vehicle crashes cost American society $340 billion according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (2023). 

This $340 billion figure for motor vehicle crashes represents the equivalent of $1,035 for each of the 328 million people in the United States and 1.6% of the $21.4 trillion real U.S. gross domestic product for the year 2019 (NHTSA, 2023).

Even people who are not directly involved in crashes pay for crash costs. Roughly 3/4 of all crash costs are paid primarily through:

• insurance premiums;
• taxes;
• congestion-related costs such as lost time;
• excess fuel consumption;
• increased environmental impacts.

In 2019, traffic crashes cost taxpayers $30 billion, which was roughly 9% of all motor vehicle crash costs (equivalent of $230 in added taxes for every household in the United States).

A report named “The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2019” looked at the cost of risky driving behaviors that contributed to crashes that led to fatalities, serious injuries and property damage, including:

• Alcohol
  • resulted in 14,219 fatalities, 497,000 injuries, and $68.9 billion in economic costs in 2019;
• Distracted Driving
  • resulted in 10,546 fatalities, 1.3 million nonfatal injuries, and $98.2 billion in economic costs in 2019;
• Failure to Wear a Seat Belt
  • caused 2,400 avoidable fatalities, 46,000 serious injuries,s and $11 billion in economic costs in 2019;
• Speeding
  • associated with 10,192 fatalities, 498,000 nonfatal injuries, and $46 billion in economic costs in 2019;
  • Speed-related crashes cost every person in the United States an average of $141;

Seat belt use prevented more than 14,600 fatalities, 450,000 serious injuries, and $93 billion in injury-related economic costs in 2019 (NHTSA, 2023).

To learn more about the economic and societal impacts of motor vehicle crashes, view the NHTSA’s 2019 Motor Vehicle Crash Report.