Maryland’s roads were less deadly in 2025, with state officials logging an 18% drop in traffic fatalities as motor vehicle crash deaths fell from 582 in 2024 to 480 last year. It is the first time the statewide total has slipped below 500 since 2014, and the steepest declines showed up among pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists. State leaders are crediting a tightly focused, data-heavy push on enforcement, engineering, and public education.
State Releases Preliminary Numbers
Preliminary 2025 figures from the governor’s office show the 18% decline statewide and note that the 480 deaths rank among the five lowest annual totals since 1960, according to the Office of Governor Wes Moore. That release breaks out the progress by travel mode: pedestrian and bicyclist deaths dropped about 33%, while motorcyclist fatalities fell roughly 46% compared with 2024. Officials are tying those improvements to stepped-up investments in traffic enforcement, roadway engineering changes, and community safety campaigns.
MVA Administrator: Data, Enforcement And Messaging
Chrissy Nizer, the Motor Vehicle Administrator at the Maryland Department of Transportation, told WBAL NewsRadio, "We are using data to drive all of our efforts." Nizer pointed to measures such as ignition interlock rules and more aggressive seat-belt messaging as key parts of the toolbox. She said the state is testing different outreach tactics to shift driver behavior and cut down on deadly crashes.
Engineering, Quick Builds And Campaigns
The Maryland Department of Transportation has launched a department-wide Serious About Safety campaign along with an updated Complete Streets policy aimed at speeding up quick-build safety projects and channeling more investment toward pedestrian improvements, according to MDOT and its MDOT Complete Streets materials. Those policies put a premium on faster project delivery, mode-specific implementation plans, and closer work with local communities to address chronic danger zones. Officials say that kind of engineering focus makes it easier to aim enforcement and outreach directly at the trouble spots highlighted in the data.
Where The Data Lives
State and local staff lean on Maryland’s ZeroDeathsMD crash dashboard for county-level summaries and visualizations that flag high-risk corridors, according to ZeroDeathsMD. The public tool offers the same breakdowns agencies use when deciding which quick-build fixes or enforcement waves to prioritize. Local planners say that having data down to specific roads and behaviors helps match the right intervention to the places producing the most serious crashes.
Officials are careful to say the progress could be fleeting. "While we celebrate this great accomplishment, there is still more work to be done," Acting MDOT Secretary Katie Thomson said. The administration plans to lean on the state’s 2026–2030 Strategic Highway Safety Plan to keep layering engineering changes, enforcement, and public outreach in hopes of sustaining the downward trend, according to the Office of Governor Wes Moore.
