Christmas week traffic data shows the most speeding occurs on Christmas Day itself

With so much attention on traffic and travel for the holiday season, Verra Mobility took a look at its own aggregated data from its U.S. traffic safety systems. The results showed that the most speeding violations occurred on Christmas Day, while most red-light violations occurred the two days leading up to the holiday.

The data was examined across nearly 200 communities and found that roughly 150,000 speed violations and 50,000 red-light violations occurred during the week of Christmas in 2022 (December 23-27).

The National Safety Council estimated this period was stricken with 346 fatalities on the roads, saying many Americans choose to travel by car “which has the highest fatality rate of any major form of motorized transportation.” Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows 361 fatal vehicle crashes occurred during the 2021 Christmas holiday period; 3,241 occurred during the entire month of December. The data also pinpointed the two deadliest hours during the Christmas period happened from 6-8 p.m.

What the driving data shows:

Speeding

• In 2022, December 25^th had the highest number of speeding violations per site during the holiday week; this was also true for 2021.
• Nearly 2,500 sites reported data.
• Regardless of year, the most violations occurred from 1 – 5 p.m.

Red-light running

• December 23^rd had the most red-light violations from 2020 – 2022, regardless of what day of the week Christmas fell on. December 24^th had the second most violations in each of these years.
• Christmas Day had the least number of violations for all three consecutive years.

“The holidays bring an extra layer of distraction to the roads as many of us are trying to do last-minute shopping or rushing to visit with family and friends,” said Jon Baldwin, executive vice president of Government Solutions, Verra Mobility.  “Sometimes we need to see data like this to remind us of the consequences for reckless driving. We want everyone to make it to their destination safely this season.”

Verra Mobility released this data to bring awareness to distracted and dangerous driving behaviors in an effort to make roads safer for everyone. The company’s safety solution programs help change reckless driving behaviors and hold drivers accountable for their actions – something the Governors Highway Safety Association confirmed in its December report stating “A plethora of studies confirm that automated enforcement (AE) programs are a proven way to change driver behavior, resulting in increased safety for everyone on the road.”

Verra Mobility encourages all drivers to join their efforts to make our roads safer for everyone.​ For information on the Zero in on Safety pledge, visit verramobility.com/zero-in-pledge.