Special Report from the CDC: Racial/ethnic differences in motor-vehicle crash deaths, United States, 2019-2022

Motor-vehicle crash (MVC) deaths increased by a record 10% from 2020 to 2021 in the United States and disproportionately impacted persons of certain racial/ethnic groups.

Mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System was used to describe MVC death rate trends during 2019-2022 by six racial/ethnic groups: non-Hispanic (NH) American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN), NH Asian, NH Black, NH Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (NHOPI), NH White, and Hispanic. Age-adjusted death rates per 100,000 population, 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and annual percent change in rates were calculated.

Overall MVC death rates increased during 2019-2022, and rates were highest among NH AIAN and NH Black persons across all years. During 2019-2020, death rates increased the most among NH Black persons (+26.0%). During 2020-2021, rates increased among all racial/ethnic groups, with the greatest increase among NH NHOPI persons (+66.7%) and NH AIAN persons (+27.8%).

These findings highlight stark differences by racial/ethnic group in MVC death rates and changes in these rates. Between 2019 and 2022, NH AIAN, NH Black, and NH NHOPI populations experienced the largest increases in MVC death rates, although there was large variation in rates and trends. Widespread adoption of a comprehensive suite of prevention strategies, such as the Safe System approach, while targeting subpopulations with the greatest burden of MVC deaths could reduce these differences and the overall burden of MVCs.

These findings show which subpopulations could experience the greatest impacts from transportation safety investments in reducing overall MVC death rates in the United States.