Background
Massachusetts has more reported crashes per mile than the national average, but crashes here are much less likely to be fatal than in almost any other state — in fact, Massachusetts ranks best in the U.S. for the lowest fatalities per mile.
Overall vehicle crashes per driven mile: About 221 reported crashes per 100 million vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) in 2023, using about 134k MassDOT-reported crashes and 60.748 billion MA VMT. That is about 17% higher than the U.S. estimate of about 189 crashes per 100 million VMT. There is no reliable official 50-state rank for all crashes per mile, because nonfatal/property-damage crash reporting is not as standardized across states the same way as fatality statistics.
Fatalities per driven mile: Lowest in the country. In 2023, According to the National Safety Council (NSC), Massachusetts had 0.56 traffic deaths per 100 million VMT, compared with the U.S. rate of 1.26. In 2024, NSC again lists Massachusetts as having the lowest traffic-death rate per 100 million VMT; using 363 MA deaths and 62.013 billion VMT gives about 0.59 deaths per 100 million VMT.#1 safest / lowest fatality rate per mile. By comparison, in 1920 when Massachusetts first required driver’s license exams, Massachusetts had 32.2 deaths per 100 million VMT.