By all measures, motor-vehicle safety has vastly improved since the early 1900s. Driver attitudes and behaviors have changed substantially, as has vehicle safety technology, which makes car travel safer.

The population motor-vehicle death rate reached its peak in 1937 with 30.8 deaths per 100,000 population. The current rate is 12.0 per 100,000, representing a 61% improvement.

In 1913, 33.38 people died for every 10,000 vehicles on the road. In 2018, the death rate was 1.42 per 10,000 vehicles, a 96% improvement.

In 1923, the first year miles driven was estimated, the motor-vehicle death rate was 18.65 deaths for every 100 million miles driven. Since 1923, the mileage death rate has decreased 93% and now stands at 1.22 deaths per 100 million miles driven.

Despite these historic drops, we cannot remain complacent. While motor-vehicle deaths and rates declined last year, since 2013 deaths have increased 11.4% and the mileage death rate has increased 3.4%.