Traffic fatality trends in Pennsylvania

If you are like most people in Pennsylvania, you have driven past your fair share of accident scenes on area roads and highways. When you see these things, you may well wonder how many accidents actually happen and how many have severe outcomes. It is also interesting to know how many accidents or deaths are caused essentially by the negligent choices of drivers.

According to records from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of vehicular fatalities in Pennsylvania has actually dropped for two consecutive years. In 2015, there were 1,200 people who died in accidents across the state. That dopped slightly in 2016 to 1,188 and then it dropped even further to 1,137 in 2017. This trend was seen in multiple crash categories, including those events in which alcohol or speed was identified as a factor. Deaths in drunk driving accidents dropped from 363 in 2015 to 314 in 2017 and deaths in crashes involving speeding dropped from 540 in 2015 to 468 in 2017.

In Centre County, the overall number of people killed in accidents rose from 15 in 2015 to 20 in 2016 but then dropped to 16 the following year. Alcohol-related fatalities dropped in both years from five in 2015 to one in 2017. Speeding, however, seems to continue to plague the county. A total of five people died in speed-influenced accidents in 2015, six in 2016 and eight in 2018.

If you would like to learn more about what you should do to seek help after you or a loved one have been in an accident caused by another person’s reckless behavior, please feel free to visit the post-crash compensation page of our Pennsylvania personal injury and motor vehicle accident website.