Car Accident Statistics by Age and Gender (2026 Update)

Key Takeaways

• 40,901 people died in US traffic crashes in 2023, dropping to an estimated 39,345 in 2024. Early 2025 data shows the decline continuing.
• Male drivers account for 72% of all US traffic deaths and are involved in fatal crashes at 3 times the rate of female drivers per mile driven.
• Drivers aged 16-17 crash at 6 times the rate of the safest group (ages 60-69) per mile driven.
• The riskiest demographic on American roads? Males aged 16-19 have a fatal crash rate of 6.4 per 100 million miles. That’s more than 6 times the rate of females aged 60-69.
• Speeding, alcohol, and seatbelt non-use explain most of the male-female fatality gap. These are behavioral choices, not biological destiny.
• The US fatality rate of ~12 deaths per 100,000 people is roughly 5 times that of Great Britain and 2.5 times that of Canada’s.

How Many People Die in Car Accidents Each Year?

Before we break anything down by age or gender, here’s where things stand overall. The US has been on a slow, grinding recovery from the pandemic-era spike in traffic deaths, but the numbers are still ugly compared to where we were a decade ago.

US Traffic Fatalities: 10-Year Trend (2014-2024)

Sources: NHTSA Summary of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes 2023, NHTSA 2024 Early Estimate, IIHS Fatality Facts 2023

Two things jump out here.

The 2020-2021 spike is the most important line in this table. Americans drove 13% fewer miles during the pandemic, yet deaths surged. The fatality rate per mile jumped 21% in a single year. Empty roads meant faster speeds, more drunk driving, and less seatbelt use. Extreme speeding incidents above 100 mph increased roughly 87% during lockdowns.

The second thing: even with 11 straight quarters of decline, we’re still 8% above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. Some of those bad pandemic-era driving habits stuck around. Early Q1 2025 data shows 8,055 fatalities with a rate of 1.05 per 100 million miles traveled, the lowest quarterly rate since 2019. So the trend is heading in the right direction. But we’re not back to normal yet.

For California specifically, 4,061 people died in 2023, a 10.9% decline that outpaced the national improvement. Preliminary 2024 estimates suggest around 3,807 fatalities, the lowest figure since 2019.

Car Accident Rates by Age: The U-Shaped Curve

Crash risk by age follows a pattern researchers call the “U-shaped curve.” Youngest and oldest drivers have the highest crash rates. Everyone in between is safer. But which age group is “most dangerous” depends entirely on how you measure it.

Crash Rates per 100 Million Miles Driven, by Age

Source: AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Rates of Motor Vehicle Crashes in Relation to Driver Age

A 16-year-old is involved in 1,432 crashes per 100 million miles. A 65-year-old? 241. That’s nearly 6 times the risk. And it makes sense when you think about it. Driving is a skill. You get better with practice.

The right side of the curve tells a different story, though. Drivers 80 and older have a fatal crash rate of 3.85 per 100 million miles, actually higher than that of teens for fatal crashes. But there’s an important distinction here. IIHS research found that physical fragility accounts for 77% of the elevated fatality rate among drivers aged 75-79 compared to middle-aged drivers. Older drivers aren’t necessarily causing more crashes—they’re simply more vulnerable to severe injuries when crashes occur.

Car Accident Statistics by Gender: Male vs. Female Drivers

The gender gap in traffic deaths isn’t subtle. It’s a canyon.

In 2023, 29,584 males and 11,229 females died in US motor vehicle crashes. A 2.6-to-1 ratio. Among drivers involved in fatal crashes specifically, it’s 3 to 1.

Men do drive more. About 16,550 miles per year versus 10,142 for women, roughly 63% more exposure. But extra miles don’t explain the gap. The per-mile fatal crash rate for males is 2.1 per 100 million miles versus 1.3 for females. Even after you account for the extra driving, men are still 63% more likely to die in a crash per mile.

Male passenger vehicle occupants die at nearly twice the rate of females: 9.7 deaths per 100,000 people compared to 4.8 per 100,000.

Where Age and Gender Collide: The Combined Risk Matrix

Fatal Crash Involvement Rate per 100,000 Licensed Drivers, by Age and Gender (2023)

Source: NHTSA Young Drivers 2023 Traffic Safety Facts, NHTSA Older Population 2023

Something counterintuitive shows up in this table. The gender gap doesn’t shrink as people get older and supposedly wiser. It widens. The biggest disparity isn’t among reckless teenagers. It’s in the 55-64 age bracket, where men’s fatal crash rate is 3.5 times the female rate.

Why? Young women and men both take risks. But as women age, their driving behavior improves faster and more consistently than men’s. Middle-aged men retain risky habits (especially around alcohol and speed) longer than their female counterparts.

Why Men Die More in Car Accidents: The Behavioral Breakdown

Four things explain most of the male-female fatality gap. All of them are choices.

Speeding

21% of male drivers in fatal crashes were speeding versus 12% of females in 2023. Among the youngest drivers, the gap is even worse: 37% of males aged 15-20 in fatal crashes were speeding, compared to 18% of females. This pattern has held every single year from 1982 to 2023.

Alcohol

In 2023, 9,155 alcohol-impaired male drivers were involved in fatal crashes versus 2,339 females. That’s a 3.9-to-1 ratio. FBI data shows roughly 74% of all DUI arrests involve men. Alcohol and speeding overlap a lot: 38% of speeding drivers in fatal crashes had BACs at or above .08 g/dL, versus 16% of non-speeding drivers.

Seatbelt Non-Use

Women wear seatbelts at a 94% rate versus 90% for men. Four percentage points sounds small. But among those actually killed in crashes, 53% of males were unrestrained versus 41% of females. That 4-point gap in usage translates to a 12-point gap in who dies without a belt on.

Vehicle and Exposure Choices

Men make up 91% of motorcycle fatalities, and motorcyclists are 22-30 times more likely to die per mile than car occupants. Men also drive more at night, in worse conditions, and log more highway miles. They receive over 70% of all traffic citations. These patterns directly affect insurance pricing: 16-year-old boys pay approximately $504 more per year than girls for car insurance, though the gap shrinks to near zero by age 35.

How the US Compares to Other Countries

Here’s the data point that should make everyone uncomfortable. The US fatality rate isn’t just higher than that of other wealthy countries. It’s in a completely different category.

Road Fatality Rates: US vs. Peer Nations

The US rate is roughly 5 times Great Britain’s and 2.5 times Canada’s.

The male share of fatalities falls in a tight band (72-77%) across every country studied. The young driver overrepresentation is universal, too. What varies is the magnitude. The EU’s 18-24 age group accounts for 12% of road deaths despite being 7% of the population. In countries where the minimum driving age is 18 instead of 16, the novice-driver spike still happens. It just shifts two years later. Research suggests driving experience matters more than age for crash avoidance, while maturity matters more for traffic law compliance.

The elderly driving challenge is growing everywhere. In the EU, people aged 65+ now account for 31% of all road fatalities, up from 28% in 2019.

Safety Technology Is Starting to Move the Needle

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) are one of the few bright spots in this data. Forward collision warning combined with automatic emergency braking reduces rear-end crashes by 50% and injury crashes by 56%. A full deployment analysis estimated that ADAS could prevent 62% of total traffic deaths annually.

NHTSA has mandated AEB on all new passenger vehicles by 2029. As of 2023, more than 28% of the US fleet already has it. The National Safety Council projects ADAS could avoid 249,400 fatalities and 14.1 million injuries from 2021 to 2050.

The catch: with the average US vehicle age now at 12.6 years, full fleet penetration will take decades. And no age-specific or gender-specific crash reduction data for ADAS has been published yet.

What This Means If You’ve Been in an Accident in California

Statistics tell one story. Your situation tells another.

If you or someone you love has been hurt in a car accident, the data in this article probably confirms what you already feel: the roads are dangerous, and the consequences can change your life. California saw 4,061 traffic fatalities in 2023, and every one of those numbers was a person with a family, a job, and a future that got rewritten in an instant.

What matters now is what happens next. California law gives you two years from the date of your accident to file a personal injury claim. The clock is ticking, and dealing with insurance companies while you’re trying to recover is exhausting.

DK Law has recovered over $500 million for more than 15,000 clients across California. The consultation is free, and you don’t pay unless we win. Contact us to talk about your case.

Last updated: February 2026. 

Data sources: NHTSA FARS 2023, NHTSA 2024 Early Estimates, IIHS Fatality Facts 2023, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, European Transport Safety Council, Transport Canada, UK Department for Transport. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.