July 2005 A Brief Statistical Summary Published by the Mathematical Analysis Division DOT HS 809 890

Speeding-Related Crash Fatalities By Month, 

Day, and Selected Holiday Periods

Traffi c Safety Facts

Crash•Stats

National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., SW, Washington, DC 20590 

Summary

Speeding-related crash fatalities, as percentages of all fatalities, are 

highest in January and lowest in October. These percentages are 

also higher during holiday periods when compared to the overall 

percentage for the year. January 1 and July 4th were the two days 

with the most speeding-related crash fatalities. 

Background

Speeding is a factor in about 30 percent of all fatal crashes. About 

1,000 crash fatalities result from speeding-related motor vehicle 

traffi c crashes every month. Factors examined in studies of 

speeding-related fatal crashes include time of day (evening hours 

between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. versus daytime hours from 3 a.m. to 3 

p.m.) and day of the week (weekdays versus weekends). Helpful 

information has been obtained1.

As an effective measure to reduce speeding-related crash fatalities, 

identifying and estabishing a pattern of speeding-related crash 

fatalities by month and day is very useful. It is also interesting to 

investigate whether speeding is a factor contributing to the higher 

motor vehicle crash fatalities during six major holiday periods in 

the United States2.

In this issue of Crash•Stats, the data of speeding-related motor 

vehicle crash fatalities by month, the days with the highest 

speeding-related crash fatalities, and six holiday periods over the 

10-year period 1994-2003 are examined. 

Method and Data

Descriptive statistics on highway speeding-related motor vehicle 

crash fatalities by month, day, and six holiday periods are presented. 

Data from the NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 

for the period 1994-2003 are used in the analysis. 

Results

When examined by month, the data clearly show that the patterns 

of speeding-related crash fatalities and total crash fatalities are very 

similar (fi gure 1). August and July are the two months with the 

highest total crash fatalities and speeding-related crash fatalities. 

However, when we examine the percentages of speeding-related 

crash fatalities to the total crash fatalities, they are highest in 

January and lowest in October. 

Another signifi cant feature is that the speeding-related crash 

fatalities, as percentages of total fatalities by month, show an 

overall downward trend from January to July, then an increase in 

August, another decrease to October and then an upward trend 

to December. The Cochran-Armitage trend test for this percentage 

shows that each of these trends is statistically signifi cant: an 

overall downward trend from January to July (p-value <0.0001); a 

downward trend from August to October (p-value=0.0003); and, an 

upward trend from October to December (p-value=0.0032) are all 

statistically signifi cant.

Figure 1

Total and speeding-related crash fatalities, and the 

percentage of speeding-related to the total by month. 

Source: FARS 1994-2003

15000

50000

40000

30000

12500

10000

32

30

Total Crash Fatalities otal Crash Fatalities

Speeding-Related Crash Fatalities

Percentage of Speeding-Related to the Total

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Month

Table 1 shows the top 20 days with the highest speeding-related 

traffi c crash fatalities for the period 1994-2003 (a cumulative total 

of 10 years’ worth of fatalities). January 1 and July 4th were the 

two days with the most speeding-related motor vehicle crash 

fatalities. Note that among these 20 days, 7 days fell in August 

(summer vacation period). 

Table 2 presents the speeding-related crash fatalities, total 

crash fatalities, and the percentage of speeding-related crash 

fatalities to the total fatalities during six major holiday 
the years between 1994 and 2003 (the bottom line in table 2). These 

results demonstrate that speeding-related crashes are one of the 

key factors contributing to the higher motor vehicle crash fatalities 

during six major holiday periods in the United States (other factors 

include higher VMT and alcohol use during holiday periods).

National Center for Statistics and Analysis 400 Seventh St., SW, Washington, DC 20590 

periods†: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, 

Thanksgiving, and Christmas. We see the percentages of speedingrelated crash fatalities to the total during six holiday periods are 

almost all signifi cantly higher when compared to the overall 

percentages of speeding-related fatalities to the total fatalities for 

Table 1

Top 20 days with the highest speeding-related crash fatalities. Source: FARS 1994-2003

Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Day Jan 1 Jul 4 Aug 12 Nov 23 Jul 3 Dec 26 Aug 4 Aug 31 May 25 Dec 23

Speeding-Related

Crash Fatalities 521 519 466 461 458 455 455 446 446 446

Rank 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Day Aug 17 Dec 24 Aug 25 Sep 2 Aug 6 Aug 10 Sep 21 Jul 27 Sep 14 May 27

Speeding-Related

Crash Fatalities 446 436 433 433 431 426 424 422 422 420

Table 2

Speeding-related crash fatalities during six holiday periods. Source: FARS 1994-2003

Holiday Period Fatalities 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 Total

New Year’s Day

Speeding-related 141 142 178 72 219 138 171 134 210 70 1,475

Total 372 392 420 192 545 354 469 357 575 219 3,895

Percentage of total 38 36 42 38 40 39 36 38 37 32 38

Memorial Day

Speeding-related 193 178 185 197 138 183 156 190 188 181 1,789

Total 482 483 514 511 393 500 466 515 494 479 4,837

Percentage of total 40 37 36 39 35 37 33 37 38 38 37

July 4th

Speeding-related 178 219 202 179 169 176 219 64 234 184 1,824

Total 519 661 629 508 479 509 717 207 685 514 5,428

Percentage of total 34 33 32 35 35 35 31 31 34 36 34

Labor Day

Speeding-related 183 188 166 179 162 171 180 138 202 189 1,758

Total 494 511 525 507 464 485 529 481 543 505 5,044

Percentage of total 37 37 32 35 35 35 34 29 37 37 35

Thanksgiving

Speeding-related 212 198 218 210 205 168 187 217 210 202 2,027

Total 575 527 588 571 602 581 509 590 551 560 5,654

Percentage of total 37 38 37 37 34 29 37 37 38 36 36

Christmas

Speeding-related 152 129 66 183 134 193 155 210 60 198 1,480

Total 455 358 167 480 364 485 442 604 131 513 3,999

Percentage of total 33 36 40 38 37 40 35 35 46 39 37

Overall percentage of speeding-related crash fatalities to the total crash fatalities between 1994 and 2003

Overall percentage for the year 32 31 31 30 31 30 31 32 31 31

† Refer to Traffi c Safety Facts 2002 for the defi nitions of six holiday periods (DOT HS 809 620). Note that for New Year’s Day, July 4th, and Christmas holiday periods there is mixing of 1-day, 

3-day and 4-day periods over the years. 

1 Cejun Liu, Chou-Lin Chen, Rajesh Subramanian, and Dennis Utter, Analysis of Speeding-Related Fatal Motor Vehicle Traffi c Crashes, NHTSA Technical Report, DOT HS 809 839, June 2005. 2 Cejun Liu, Chou-Lin Chen, and Dennis Utter, Cejun Liu, Chou-Lin Chen, and Dennis Utter, Trend and Pattern Analysis of Highway Crash Fatality by Month and Day Trend and Pattern Analysis of Highway Crash Fatality by Month and Day

Analysis of Speeding-Related Fatal Motor Vehicle Traffi c Crashes

, NHTSA Technical Report, DOT HS 809 855, March 2005. , NHTSA Technical Report, DOT HS 809 855, March 2005.

, NHTSA Technical Report, DOT HS 809 839, June 2005. 

, NHTSA Technical Report, DOT HS 809 855, March 2005.

For additional copies of this research note, call 800-934-8517 or fax your request to 202-366-3189. For questions regarding the data reported in this 

publication, contact Cejun Liu (202-366-5354, Chou-Lin Chen (202-366-1048, or Dennis Utter (202-366-5351). Thanks to Joseph Tessmer and Bill Swanson 

at OCCI for proofreading of this document. Internet users may access this publication and other general information on highway traffi c safety at:http://

www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/AvailInf.html.