What is Virginia's road fatality rate?

Virginia has a road fatality rate of 10.5 per 100,000 population and 1.0 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT). This is 14.0% below the national average.

How many road fatalities occurred in Virginia in 2023?

In 2023, Virginia recorded 913 road fatalities. The state's total fatalities across the 2015-2023 period are 7,746.

What is the leading cause of road fatalities in Virginia?

The leading cause is unrestrained, accounting for 46.3% of all fatalities (3,583 deaths over the reporting period).

Are road fatalities increasing or decreasing in Virginia?

Road fatalities in Virginia are increasing with a +21.1% change over the reporting period (2015-2023). Fatalities went from 754 in 2015 to 913 in 2023.

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

Virginia's fatality rate of 10.5 per 100K is 14.0% lower than the national average of 12.2 per 100K. According to NHTSA FARS, Virginia ranks #33 of 51 states by fatality rate (highest first), the same sort as /rankings/deadliest-states. See /methodology#corpus-placement.

What percentage of Virginia's road fatalities involve alcohol?

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for 23.7% of road fatalities in Virginia, representing 1,832 deaths over the reporting period. Speeding accounts for 19.7% and pedestrian incidents for 14.0%.

Are rural or urban roads more dangerous in Virginia?

In Virginia, rural roads account for more fatalities: 4,397 rural vs. 3,324 urban deaths. Rural roads account for 56.8% of all fatalities.

STATE FATALITY DATA - 2023

Virginia: larger FARS fatality book

Virginia holds a larger FARS book (7,746 across 2015-2023, #17/51 by volume) with 913 deaths in 2023.

Compiled by PlainRoadSafety · September 3, 2026

913
Deaths (2023): 10.5
Per 100k residents: Below average; 1.0
Per 100M VMT: -93
2022–2023 deaths

Lower alcohol-impaired share

Virginia ranks #36 of 51 by alcohol-impaired share (23.7%) - bottom-third alcohol involvement.

Virginia in the larger-book third

According to NHTSA FARS, Virginia carries a top-third fatality book (7,746 across 2015-2023, volume rank #17/51) at 10.5/100k.

#33 of 51
among US states by rate: 10.5/100k
2023 fatality rate: #17/51
by total FARS fatalities: Unrestrained
leading contributing factor

NHTSA FARS milepost

Milepost VA · Virginia #33 of 51 · 10.5/100k

Virginia · 10.5/100k · 913 in 2023 · #33 of 51

RANK 10.5/100k
VMT #33 of 51
BOOK 1.0/100M
ALC 7,746 book
SPD near Ohio
PED 19.7% spd
RUR 14.0% ped
VS-US -14.0% 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

57/100

Virginia

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-

10.5/100k

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

Exposure-Adjusted Rate B+

1.04/100M VMT

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

Pedestrian Safety C-

14.0%

Share of fatalities that were pedestrians (NHTSA FARS)

Impaired-Driving Control B-

23.7%

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

Safety Trend F

+21.1%

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

Tree/fixed-object pattern in Virginia

Tree (Standing Only) is Virginia's top non-vehicle first-harm event in 2023 FARS (13.6%), 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 36.5% · 334
Tree (Standing Only) 13.6% · 124
Pedestrian 13.1% · 120
Ditch 4.3% · 39
Embankment 4.0% · 37

Light condition

Daylight 47.2% · 431
Dark - Not Lighted 32.8% · 300
Dark - Lighted 12.9% · 118
Dusk 3.6% · 33
Dawn 2.5% · 23

Roadway class

U.S. Highway 28.8% · 263
County 27.8% · 254
State Highway 19.0% · 174
Interstate 15.1% · 138
Municipal 7.5% · 69

Weather at crash

Rain 10.9% · 100
Fog, Smog, Smoke 1.1% · 10
Sleet or Hail 0.1% · 1

California

10
Washington

10
Virginia

11
Ohio

11
Vermont

11
Michigan

11

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

Unrestrained

46
Nighttime

45
Alcohol-Impaired

24
Weather-Related

21
Speeding

20
Pedestrian

14

What this shows Unrestrained is the top contributing cause in Virginia, involved in 46.3% of all road deaths. Note: categories overlap as a single crash may involve multiple factors.

Virginia vs all states by fatality rate

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

11 Lower than most a lower per-capita rate than 61% 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

Virginia plotted against a representative sample of 27 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.

Virginia 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 Virginia's own, highlighted) for its exact figures.

Fatality Trend Analysis (2015–2023)

On a larger fatality book (#17/51), Virginia went from 754 in 2015 to 913 in 2023.

Year	Fatalities	Rate	Alcohol	Speeding	Pedestrian
2015	754	8.7	231	105	77
2016	760	8.7	222	252	122
2017	839	9.6	242	210	111
2018	820	9.4	250	177	118
2019	831	9.5	247	195	123
2020	850	9.8	282	171	111
2021	973	11.2	131	139	123
2022	1,006	11.5	127	143	171
2023	913	10.5	100	131	129

Per-capita county spikes in Virginia: Sussex and Madison

Fatalities are spread across 130 Virginia counties (no single county exceeds 12% of the book). Per-capita leaders are Sussex (83.7/100k) and Madison (63.7/100k), while volume still ranks Fairfax first.

#	County	Total Fatalities	Latest Year	Avg Annual	Trend
1	FAIRFAX (59)	359	42	39.9	↑ increasing
2	CHESTERFIELD (41)	232	27	25.8	↑ increasing
3	VIRGINIA BEACH (CITY) (810)	231	37	25.7	↑ increasing
4	HENRICO (87)	230	29	25.6	↑ increasing
5	PRINCE WILLIAM (153)	197	27	21.9	↑ increasing
6	RICHMOND (CITY) (760)	174	29	19.3	↑ increasing
7	NORFOLK (CITY) (710)	168	15	18.7	↑ increasing
8	CHESAPEAKE(CITY) (550)	140	17	15.6	↑ increasing
9	SPOTSYLVANIA (177)	138	23	15.3	↑ increasing
10	HANOVER (85)	137	24	15.2	↑ increasing
11	AUGUSTA (15)	133	14	14.8	↑ increasing
12	NEWPORT NEWS (CITY) (700)	133	12	14.8	↑ increasing
13	PITTSYLVANIA (143)	125	13	13.9	↑ increasing
14	FAUQUIER (61)	110	11	12.2	↑ increasing
15	ALBEMARLE (3)	109	11	12.1	↑ increasing
16	HAMPTON (CITY) (650)	108	22	12.0	↑ increasing
17	LOUDOUN (107)	108	16	12.0	↑ increasing
18	BEDFORD (19)	102	3	11.3	↔ stable
19	ROCKINGHAM (165)	102	13	11.3	↑ increasing
20	FRANKLIN (67)	100	11	11.1	↑ increasing

Showing top 20 of 130 counties by total fatalities.

States With Similar Fatality Rates

Ohio and California are the nearest fatality-rate neighbours to Virginia at 10.5 per 100k.

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

Ohio

10.5 per 100K

1,242 fatalities (2023)

California

10.4 per 100K

4,061 fatalities (2023)

Washington

10.4 per 100K

810 fatalities (2023)

Vermont

10.7 per 100K

69 fatalities (2023)

Michigan

10.9 per 100K

1,094 fatalities (2023)

Maryland

10.0 per 100K

621 fatalities (2023)

Sussex-rate peers and Virginia 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 Virginia (#33 of 51; volume #17/51). See our methodology. Retrieved and formatted by PlainRoadSafety · vintage 2026-09-03

Verify with NHTSA FARS → · Verify with Census →