American roads getting safer

After years of grim numbers, traffic fatalities in the U.S. are declining meaningfully. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reported 39,345 traffic deaths in 2024, a 3.8 percent drop from 2023 and the first time the number has fallen below 40,000 since 2020. In the first half of 2025, fatalities dropped another 8.2 percent compared to the same period a year earlier, reaching the lowest mid-year fatality rate per miles driven since 2014. The improvement is happening even as Americans are driving more miles. It is, for once, genuinely good news on the road.