In the late-1970s the U.S. and France had roughly similar traffic-death rates. However, in recent years the two countries have diverged to such as degree that by 2021 French people were three times less likely to die in a traffic crash than Americans (Freemark, 2022). That’s right — three times less likely.
This adds up to a lot of people. Yonah Freemark (2022) crunched the numbers and found that “had the US per capita traffic death rate remained the same as France’s since 1994, the US would have had 387,000 fewer deaths by 2021. That’s roughly equivalent to the population of Cleveland, Ohio, or New Orleans, Louisiana.”
What’s even more striking about the situation is that France is only in the middle of the pack when it comes to major industrial nations.
The statistics are even worse when you look at individual U.S. states, where not even the safest ones compare favorably with the safest European Union nations. As a case in point, whereas Ireland had only 29 road deaths per million per year in 2018, the 11 safest states only managed 40-78 — which is the EU average. The 14 worst states had fatality rates of 120-159 deaths per million per year (Jacobs, 2022).
“The roads in Wyoming are almost nine times deadlier than those in Ireland,” noted Frank Jacobs (2022). In more recent years things have not gotten better for the U.S. Our fatality rate is most comparable to developing nations such as India and Brazil (Worldpopulationreview.com, 2025).
Why are French roads less deadly?
Freemark (2022) suggested that there are five reasons why France has done a much better job of reducing its traffic-death rate than the United States. National and local governments have:
- Reduced speed limits on both major roads and within cities.
- Enforced speed limits through speed cameras on highways.
- Created pedestrian areas separate from cars.
- Encouraged smaller vehicles through a high gas tax and a carbon tax on the sale a new cars.
- Creating more “walkable” communities so people need to drive less.
In addition, the EU regulates cars for pedestrian safety whereas the U.S. does not (go here for further discussion). And France, like many EU nations, makes obtaining a driver’s license a more rigorous process than here in the U.S.
What this suggests is that reducing the traffic-death rate requires a holistic approach involving more than car design. Better urban planning could make a difference, yet this topic is rarely talked about in the American automotive media.
Of course, one factor in France’s favor has been that the country is less auto dependent in its transportation system — which results in the French driving less than Americans. However, we shouldn’t make too much of this factor. The French “now are 40 percent less likely to die per mile driven” (Freemark and Jenkins, 2022; original italics).
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RE:SOURCES
- Freemark, Yonah; 2022. “Why French and US Road Deaths Went In Dramatically Different Directions.” StreetsblogUSA. Posted July 6.
- Freemark, Yonah and Wesley Jenkins; 2022. “With US Traffic Fatalities Rising, What Would It Take to Save Lives?” Urban Institute. Posted June 14.
- Jacobs, Frank; 2022. “U.S. road deaths far outnumber those in Europe. Why?” Big Think. Posted June 1.
- Worldpopulationreview.com; 2025. “Road Deaths by Country 2025.” Accessed July 16.
Is there any data-based research maintaining that 20 mph urban speed limits do actually reduce road casualties?
At 20 mph some cars really look like they are struggling to keep the speed that low , as many engines (and I am talking about small B-segment EU cars) really prefer to hustle at around 25 mph. The difference is apparently small but by ear the contrast is stark, and having to constantly watch out for the speedometer instead of the road does not appear very sound to me. Moreover, small cars in Europe have become de rigueur not only for tax purposes, but due to the higher tightness of the roads and even motorways look twisty compared to America’s, especially from the Midwest westwards.
America’s situation is even more peculiar considering that straight line roads should reduce accidents, both for better visibility and for reduced effort required on the driver’s part.
Paradoxically, roads that require reduced effort on the driver’s part can result in accidents because people may take more risks, such as speeding. Thus, the rise of “traffic calming” measures such as narrowing lanes, chicanes, curb extensions and speed bumps.
Was a front cover story in the British world wide circ magazine, the Economist, entitled America’s Killer Trucks, with statistics about accidents involving pickup trucks. Never a peep about the subject in the US otherwise. Crickets. Money doesn’t have to talk, only whisper. Sure seems for starters bumper heights regs are ahem, decorative.
Look, speed kills, even with airbags and shoulder harnesses. Here in Indiana, they are RAISING speed limits on some of the most congested interstates with heavy semi-tractor traffic. It seems to me that there was a study ten or fifteen years ago that indicated that all of the then new safety features were influencing drivers to drive faster than the prevailing speed limits.
James, have they ever finished I-65 or are they still using it for traffic cone storage?
Agreed. You can’t change the laws of physics. Kinetic energy is 36% higher at 70 mph than 60. Imagine what it is at today’s interstate “cruising speeds” of 75-80! The much improved brakes and tires of today only make a car length or so of difference in stopping distances for a goodly number of modern vehicles vs a well engineered production car from the ’50s cruising at 60 mph.
Today’s technology can only slightly overcome the disadvantage of the heavier weight of new car/trucks and today’s greater speeds (shipping weight of my ’53 Studebaker Champion coupe was just 2700 pounds). Crush zones are good, BUT,a small SUV is no match for an F250 in a big crash (and a new F250 is hard-pressed to stop as fast as a well engineered ’50s production car!).
Having said that, Car and Driver’s recent stats say that in the 25 years since 2000, crashes are nationally down 20%, injuries are down 39%, but deaths are only down 12%!