How Many People Die in Wrong-Way Crashes in the US?
Quick answer: Between 2014 and 2023, 5,730 people died in wrong-way crashes on divided highways in the United States, in 4,164 fatal crashes. The annual number of these crashes nearly doubled, from 278 in 2014 to 520 in 2023, and the deaths in them rose from 373 to 699. The figures come from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, which analysed NHTSA FARS data in a research brief published in March 2026.
What counts as a wrong-way crash
A wrong-way crash happens when a driver travels against the flow of traffic on a divided highway and collides with vehicles coming the other way. The AAA Foundation's brief covers Interstates, other freeways and expressways, one-way and divided two-way principal arterials, and the ramps leading to and from those roads.
Two limits matter. First, the figures cover divided highways only, so 5,730 is not the toll for wrong-way crashes on all American roads. Second, crossover crashes are not counted here: if a vehicle crossed the centre line or median before the first impact, the brief classes that separately, not as a wrong-way crash.
Cases were identified from NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the census of every fatal crash on a public road in the United States, using a cited violation or driver factor in the crash report.
The decade in numbers
Wrong-way crashes are a small share of all fatal crashes, but that share grew steadily through the decade:
- 2014: 278 fatal wrong-way crashes, 373 deaths — 3.4% of fatal crashes on divided highways
- 2019: 387 crashes, 559 deaths — 3.8% of fatal crashes on divided highways
- 2021: 548 crashes, 763 deaths — 4.4% of fatal crashes on divided highways
- 2022: 566 crashes, 796 deaths — 4.7% of fatal crashes on divided highways, the worst year in the series
- 2023: 520 crashes, 699 deaths — 4.6% of fatal crashes on divided highways
Over the ten years, 4,164 fatal wrong-way crashes killed 5,730 people. The brief notes that while traffic deaths nationwide rose over the study period, wrong-way crash fatalities rose faster, at a rate that outpaced fatal crashes overall. The death toll in 2023 was nearly twice the 2014 figure.
For scale, US road deaths by state shows 39,254 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2024. Wrong-way crashes on divided highways are a small part of that total, but they are one of the few crash types that kept growing through the decade.
Who is most at risk
The brief compared wrong-way drivers with drivers travelling in the correct direction in the same crashes, and with other drivers in fatal crashes on divided highways. Four risk factors from earlier research held up in the new data:
- older drivers
- alcohol-impaired drivers
- drivers without a valid licence
- drivers of older vehicles
The March 2026 brief also found new risk factors. The risk of a fatal wrong-way crash was higher in rural areas, in dawn, dusk and darkness, among drivers who lived far away from the crash location, and among drivers of vehicles registered to someone else.
Alcohol is the factor readers will recognise. Our drunk-driving deaths by state figures, also from NHTSA FARS, show about 11,904 people died in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes in the US in 2024. The wrong-way brief does not say how many of its crashes involved alcohol, only that alcohol-impaired drivers face a higher risk of driving the wrong way.
Why wrong-way crashes are so deadly
The brief describes wrong-way crashes as relatively rare, but says they often result in more severe safety outcomes. The reason is straightforward: two vehicles travelling towards each other on a divided highway meet head-on at motorway speeds, with almost no time for either driver to react.
Most of these crashes happen where the risk factors point: at night, in the dark, on rural stretches of divided highway, and often involving a driver who is impaired, older, unlicensed or far from home. A recent example is the wrong-way head-on crash on the I-95 in Elkridge, Maryland, which killed two drivers. See today's accident reports for the latest crashes as they are reported.
What is being done about it
The Foundation says the wider and more up-to-date list of risk factors has implications for countermeasures. The brief discusses driver education, especially on navigating complex interchanges and how to correct course after an error, alcohol interlock devices and in-vehicle detection systems, and navigation-app warnings sent to wrong-way drivers and to drivers nearby. On the road itself it discusses larger and low-mounted signs, directional rumble strips and clearer pavement markings.
Fourteen states, including Arizona, Texas and Florida, have piloted or put in place multi-part programmes that combine road design with detection systems that alert wrong-way drivers, other drivers, traffic centres and police. The brief reports that several of these initiatives saw more drivers correct a potential wrong-way event themselves. It does not claim a percentage of crashes any one measure would prevent, and neither do we.
How these numbers were counted
All figures come from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research brief "Fatal Wrong-Way Crashes on Divided Highways, United States, 2014–2023", published in March 2026 and based on NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). The analysis covers fatal crashes on divided highways only, including ramps, and counts people who died within 30 days of the crash. Crossover crashes, where a vehicle crossed the centre line or median before impact, are excluded. Blood alcohol values missing from police reports were estimated using NHTSA's multiple imputation method. The latest year in FARS can be revised as records are completed.
In this story
- United States: live accidents and road deaths
- Driving laws in United States
- Road accidents reported today
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