What is Maine's road fatality rate?

Maine has a road fatality rate of 9.7 per 100,000 population and 0.9 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 20.6% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Maine in 2023?

In 2023, Maine recorded 135 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 1,416.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Maine?

The leading cause is unrestrained, accounting for 46.5% of all fatalities (659 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Maine?

Road fatalities in Maine are decreasing with a -13.5% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 156 in 2015 to 135 in 2023.

How does Maine compare to the national average for road safety?

Maine's fatality rate of 9.7 per 100K is 20.6% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Maine ranks #39 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Maine's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 32.4% of road fatalities in Maine, representing 459 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 28.7% and pedestrian incidents for 10.3%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Maine?

In Maine, rural roads account for more fatalities: 1,143 rural vs. 266 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 80.7% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Maine: lower-rate fatality band

Maine is in the lower per-capita third: 135 traffic deaths in 2023 at 9.7 per 100,000 (#39 of 51).

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

135
Deaths (2023): 9.7
Per 100k residents: Below average; 0.9
Per 100M VMT: -47
2022–2023 deaths

Higher alcohol-impaired share

Maine ranks #8 of 51 by alcohol-impaired share (32.4%) - top-third alcohol involvement.

Maine in the lower-rate third

According to NHTSA FARS, Maine sits in the lower-rate third at 9.7 per 100k (#39 of 51), 21% below the U.S. 12.2 benchmark, with unrestrained the largest contributing factor.

#39 of 51
lower-rate third: 9.7/100k
2023 fatality rate: #41/51
by total FARS fatalities: Unrestrained
leading contributing factor

135 2023 Fatalities, By Roadway Setting

80%

Rural 108 (80.0%)
Urban 27 (20.0%)

NHTSA FARS milepost

Milepost ME · Maine #39 of 51 · 9.7/100k

Maine · 9.7/100k · 135 in 2023 · #39 of 51

YOY 9.7/100k
FARS #39 of 51
NHTSA 0.9/100M
MILE 1,416 book
BAND near Illinois
POST 28.7% spd
RATE 10.3% ped
RANK -20.6% vs US

Stamps derive from this state's NHTSA FARS row (per-100k rate, corpus rank, VMT rate, fatality book, nearest-rate peer, alcohol/speeding/pedestrian shares, vs-national gap), not a trip-risk forecast. PlainRoadSafety is informational only. See our disclaimer. Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Read with methodology → · Understanding road fatality data → · States ranked →

Road Safety Index

71/100

Maine

Benchmarked against all 51 states (50 states + DC) on fatality rate, exposure-adjusted rate, pedestrian and impaired-driving fatality share, and safety trend from NHTSA FARS, US Census Bureau, and FHWA sources, not enforcement, infrastructure spend, or road-condition ratings.

Fatality Rate B+

9.7/100k

Fatalities per 100,000 residents (NHTSA FARS + Census PEP population)

Exposure-Adjusted Rate A

0.91/100M VMT

Fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (NHTSA FARS + FHWA Highway Statistics)

Pedestrian Safety B+

10.3%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control F

32.4%

Share of fatalities that were alcohol-impaired (NHTSA FARS)

Safety Trend A-

-13.5%

Change in fatalities over the reporting period; negative is declining (NHTSA FARS)

Tree/fixed-object pattern in Maine

Tree (Standing Only) is Maine's top non-vehicle first-harm event in 2023 FARS (22.2%), pointing to roadside departure rather than intersection conflict. Counts come from the NHTSA FARS accident microdata for 2023 (first harmful event, weather, light, route, and rural/urban setting), not from the seeded state rollup alone.

First harmful event

Motor Vehicle In-Transport 31.1% · 42
Tree (Standing Only) 22.2% · 30
Pedestrian 14.1% · 19
Rollover/Overturn 6.7% · 9
Embankment 4.4% · 6

Light condition

Daylight 60.0% · 81
Dark - Not Lighted 25.2% · 34
Dark - Lighted 6.7% · 9
Dusk 4.4% · 6
Dawn 3.0% · 4

Roadway class

State Highway 39.3% · 53
Not Signed 26.7% · 36
U.S. Highway 14.8% · 20
Interstate 9.6% · 13
Township 8.9% · 12

Weather at crash

Clear 65.2% · 88
Cloudy 17.0% · 23
Rain 11.9% · 16
Snow 3.7% · 5
Fog, Smog, Smoke 0.7% · 1

New Hampshire

9
Pennsylvania

9
Maine

10
Illinois

10
Wisconsin

10
Maryland

10

What this shows Maine sits among the five nearest fatality-rate peers on the per-100k scale.

Unrestrained

47
Nighttime

39
Alcohol-Impaired

32
Speeding

29
Weather-Related

28
Pedestrian

10

What this shows Unrestrained is the top contributing cause in Maine, involved in 46.5% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Maine vs all states by fatality rate

Where this state's deaths-per-100k sits among every state and D.C. on PlainRoadSafety

10 Among the safer states a lower per-capita rate than 75% of 51 states

States and D.C., banded by fatality rate per 100,000 residents

Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more states. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source NHTSA FARS over Census population · 2026-09-03

Maine plotted against a representative sample of 26 of 51 states and D.C. by deaths per 100,000 residents (x) and deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (y). Dashed lines mark the national median across all 51, computed from the full corpus.

Maine can rank differently on each axis: population density pushes the per-capita rate one way, and rural-highway commute length pushes the per-mile rate another. Hover or tap any point (including Maine's own, highlighted) for its exact figures.

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

In the lower-rate third, Maine moved from 156 deaths in 2015 to 135 in 2023 (-13.5%).

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	156	11.2	74	60	19
2016	160	11.5	61	54	17
2017	173	12.4	50	46	20
2018	136	9.7	42	39	6
2019	157	11.2	50	43	16
2020	164	11.8	71	47	9
2021	153	11.0	32	26	19
2022	182	13.0	49	53	21
2023	135	9.7	30	39	19

Cumberland leads Maine's county fatality book

Cumberland County alone accounts for 13.7% of Maine's 1,260 FARS fatalities over 2015-2023 (173 deaths); on a per-100k basis, Hancock sits higher at 17.7/100k.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	CUMBERLAND (5)	173	20	19.2	↑ increasing
2	YORK (31)	164	18	18.2	↑ increasing
3	PENOBSCOT (19)	147	19	16.3	↑ increasing
4	KENNEBEC (11)	121	12	13.4	↑ increasing
5	ANDROSCOGGIN (1)	94	13	10.4	↔ stable
6	HANCOCK (9)	94	10	10.4	↑ increasing
7	OXFORD (17)	77	8	8.6	↑ increasing
8	SOMERSET (25)	66	6	7.3	↑ increasing
9	WALDO (27)	60	3	6.7	↓ decreasing
10	AROOSTOOK (3)	58	6	6.4	↑ increasing
11	WASHINGTON (29)	47	4	5.2	↑ increasing
12	LINCOLN (15)	39	6	4.3	↑ increasing
13	KNOX (13)	37	2	4.1	↔ stable
14	FRANKLIN (7)	36	5	4.0	↑ increasing
15	PISCATAQUIS (21)	24	3	2.7	↑ increasing
16	SAGADAHOC (23)	23	0	2.6	↓ decreasing

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Among lower-rate peers, Illinois (9.9/100k) and Wisconsin (9.9/100k) bracket Maine's 9.7 per 100k.

6 of 50 other states are shown here, ranked by closeness to Maine's fatality rate.

Illinois

9.9 per 100K

1,241 fatalities (2023)

Wisconsin

9.9 per 100K

583 fatalities (2023)

Maryland

10.0 per 100K

621 fatalities (2023)

New Hampshire

9.3 per 100K

130 fatalities (2023)

Pennsylvania

9.3 per 100K

1,211 fatalities (2023)

California

10.4 per 100K

4,061 fatalities (2023)

Cumberland County and related Maine road data

Contextual links from this profile to rankings, tools, research, and peer geographies on PlainRoadSafety.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from official public datasets for Maine (#39 of 51; volume #41/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →