There’s never really a true normal number for fatal car accidents, but there are statistics that show the average number of crashes resulting in fatalities throughout the United States. Comparing those statistics with the statistics from Montana, it’s easy to tell how the state is doing as far as traffic safety goes.

The number and types of motor vehicle accidents do vary significantly among the states. Factors like the types of vehicles most commonly driven in the state and the average travel speeds affect these statistics.

In 2012, there were a total of 30,800 fatal motor vehicle accidents in the United States. Because of those accidents, 33,561 people were killed. Essentially, this equals out to 10.7 deaths per 100,000 people in the United States and 1.14 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. When comparing Montana to this information, consider the following.

According to the chart, in Montana, there were 192 fatal crashes in 2012. In those crashes, 205 people were killed. The state has a higher-than-average rate of 1.76 deaths per 100,000 miles traveled, equaling 20.4 deaths per 100,000 people. The only other state with as high of a death toll was Wyoming, which had 21.3 deaths per 100,000.

What does this mean to you? Overall, Montana is one of the states where people are more likely to end up with fatal injuries if they’re involved in a car accident. There also are more deaths per 100,000 of population than in any other state besides Wyoming. While this doesn’t bode particularly well for the state, this information can make it easier to prove that your accident and injuries are in line with those suffered by the rest of the state on average.

Source: Insurance Institute For Highway Safety, “General Statistics” Nov. 27, 2014