“Fewer teenagers are dying in motor-vehicle crashes in the United States. According to data from the US Department of Transportation, 2,899 teenagers died in crashes in 2024, 67 percent fewer than in 1975, though motor-vehicle crashes remained the leading cause of death for US teens,” notes The Doomslayer.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says:
In the United States, teenagers drive less than all but the oldest people, but their numbers of crashes and crash deaths are disproportionately high. Using data from the National Household Travel Survey, the fatal crash rate per miles driven for 16-19 year-olds is just over 3 times the rate for drivers ages 20 and over. Risk is highest at ages 16-17.
Beginning in the mid-1990s, all states adopted graduated licensing systems, which phase in full driving privileges. National studies of graduated licensing found that strong laws were associated with substantially lower fatal crash rates and substantially lower insurance claim rates among young teen drivers covered by the laws. Strengthening restrictions on nighttime driving and teen passengers, as well as raising the licensing age, reduced rates of fatal crashes and insurance collision claims.
Car crashes in the United States spiked after the death of George Floyd. The riots that followed led to reductions in policing and resulted in cops stopping fewer motorists who violate speed limits or are reckless drivers.
Road deaths spiked in the U.S. after the death of George Floyd, as police pulled back from police stops of motorists (especially black motorists), leading to big increases in reckless driving and crashes, especially among black motorists. But in the rest of the world, it was a different story, with a steady fall in road deaths in every year since 2010.
Defunding the police, and other forms of de-policing, increase the crime rate, and increase the rate of deadly traffic accidents.
