Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes as a Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.: Summary of the 1997 Mortality Experience and Traffic Crash Fatality Trend From 1992 to 1997

NHTSA · 2000 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research note examines the status of motor vehicle traffic crashes as a leading cause of death in the United States, utilizing mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) for the year 1997 and trend data from 1992 to 1997. The study aims to determine the ranking of traffic crash fatalities among all causes of death, disaggregated by age, sex, race, ethnicity, and state of residence. The analysis highlights that NCHS data, derived from a census of death certificates, reports slightly higher fatality counts than NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System due to differing reporting criteria. In 1997, traffic crashes caused 27,913 male and 14,427 female deaths, ranking as the 8th leading cause of death for males and the 10th for females. Traffic crashes were the number one cause of death for all persons aged 6–33, males aged 7–11, 13–31, and 33, and females aged 4–28. Half of all traffic crash fatalities occurred in individuals under age 36. The age-adjusted death rate was 15.5 per 100,000 population overall, with males experiencing a rate of 21.1 and females 10.0. The highest single-age incidence occurred among persons aged 18–21. Traffic crashes accounted for nearly half of all accidental deaths, with the likelihood of dying in a crash being significantly higher than from falling, poisoning, suffocation, or fire. Trend analysis from 1992 to 1997 reveals little variation in overall rankings or age-adjusted death rates. For both sexes, the rate fluctuated between 15.4 and 15.9 per 100,000, while rankings remained consistently 8th or 9th. Demographic disparities were evident: Native Americans experienced the highest ranking, with traffic crashes as the 3rd leading cause for males and 5th for females. Conversely, African Americans had the lowest ranking, with crashes ranking 9th–11th for males and 14th–16th for females. Notably, the ranking for Hispanic males improved from 5th in 1992 to 3rd in 1997. Geographically, Mississippi consistently recorded the highest ranking for male victims, while Alaska and Mississippi ranked high for females. The District of Columbia, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island consistently showed the lowest rankings for traffic crash fatalities.

Key finding

In 1997 motor vehicle crashes killed 27,913 males and 14,427 females, ranking 8th and 10th among causes of death and serving as the leading cause of death for all persons aged 6 to 33.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Topics

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• demographic disparities
• fatality injury trends
• comparative international
• incidence prevalence
• sex gender

Information type

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• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes