Driving somewhere this month? September is one of the safest


Good news for those of you planning a late summer vacation: September is the safest warm-weather month to be on the road, according the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The government reported these figures earlier in the year, when it noted 2009 was the safest year for driving. But I hadn’t noticed the dip in September, followed by the jump in October — the Columbus Day spike.

September isn’t the safest month, statistically, to be driving. That honor belongs to February or March, depending on the year. The colder the weather gets, the fewer accidents with fatalities are reported, generally speaking. (The exception, as I mentioned, is October.)

The most dangerous month? August.

Reassuring news for those of us taking a Labor Day road trip, right? Well, don’t get too excited. Bear in mind that these shifts are probably just due to the fluctuations in the number of people driving during the year, and are not weighted (deaths per thousand). Still, I’ll be curious to see the 2010 numbers.

  • Josh

    I’m pretty sure the numbers above are absolute fatalities, and don’t account for miles driven, which also varies quite a bit by month. For a given person/family planning an X mile trip, “how safe” is determined by deaths per mile traveled, not total deaths.

    The same misunderstanding was exploted by those who claim lower speed limits on freeways increased danger, when in fact the opposite has been shown by many studies (partially because people will use the safer, higher speed roads instead of the relatively more dangerous 2-lane roads). The claim starts with an assertion that deaths dropped after the 55MPH nationwide limit in 1974…right when the oil embargo caused a sharp dropoff in travel, and the government changed the reporting methods right around the same time.

    Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine!

  • Carrie Charney

    I’d love to believe the above, as my husband is taking his semi-annual trip to Oregon, from New York, in order to avoid dealing with the whims of the TSA and the airlines. He’ll only fly anywhere if there is absolutely no other option.

  • Carrie Charney

    As you probably figured out, if you read my comment, that I meant to say “road trip.” He is in our Chevy Express Van that was converted to a small RV, a RoadTrek.