Traffic crashes remain the leading cause of death in the United States, but the number of traffic fatalities has fallen steadily for 10 straight quarters, beginning in 2022.
According to the latest U.S. Department of Transportation progress report (released in January 2025), an estimated 29,135 people died in traffic accidents to start FY 2025. This demonstrates a drop of about 4.4% compared to the 30,490 traffic fatalities recorded in the first nine months of 2023.
In a letter accompanying the DOT report, former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg recounted the efforts the department has made over the last few years to reduce traffic fatalities and stressed that the fight against these incidents is far from over.
Buttigieg said, “While we should be encouraged by the progress we’ve made in the past year and in the three years since introducing the NRSS, there is still so much work to be done. With our collective efforts, guided by our shared safety mission, we can reduce traffic fatalities to the only acceptable number: zero."
While the roads may overall be a bit safer in the U.S., there are still plenty of other considerations that go into planning a road trip. Recently, WalletHub looked at the costs, safety and activities available in each state to determine which were best suited for summer road trips.
The states WalletHub found to be the best road trip prospects this summer are:
- Minnesota
- New York
- Ohio
- Utah
- Louisiana
- Florida
- Idaho
- Texas
- North Carolina
- Pennsylvania
In the slideshow above, we’ll look at the ten states WalletHub determined were the worst for road trips in 2025.
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