Each point of light is a fatal crash on Georgia roads.

2026 Edition

Georgia Ranks #4 for Fatal Wrecks

Atlanta is known for its traffic. But Georgia's deadliest roads often lie far beyond the capital.

In 2023, Georgia recorded the nation's fourth-highest number of traffic deaths. Only Texas, California, and Florida lost more people, despite each having at least twice Georgia's population. Even after accounting for population, Georgia has one of the highest traffic death rates among the 50 states.

By Matt Wetherington

14,403people killed on Georgia roads

13,345fatal crashes

2015-2023

Most deaths

Metro Atlanta

The most deaths, but not the most dangerous.

Highest rate

Taliaferro County

Just 1,740 residents, the highest death rate per person.

Deadliest road

Interstate 75

507 deaths, more than any other Georgia road.

Start with two maps of the same crashes

The first map shows total deaths. They pile up around Atlanta and along the interstates. The second map divides those deaths by population, and the picture flips: adjusted for how many people live there, metro Atlanta is one of the safer places in Georgia to drive, and the death rate climbs as you leave Atlanta. Toggle between them below.

The numbers run through 2023, the most recent year with a final federal crash file. The 2024 file has not been released as of July 2026.

Click a county to see individual stats

Recorded deaths0-2728-4142-6465-111112+

Deaths per 100,000 residents

Deaths per 100,000 residents per year0-15.515.5-19.419.4-24.224.2-31.331.3+striped: insufficient data

Fulton and the Atlanta metro record the most deaths.

Taliaferro County, halfway between Atlanta and Augusta: 23 deaths over nine years among 1,740 residents, the highest rate in Georgia. Fifteen of those deaths were on I-20 itself.

Which Georgia counties have the most fatal accidents?

Mostly two-lane Georgia. Taliaferro County (population 1,740) averaged about 147 road deaths per 100,000 residents a year, roughly 9.9 times the statewide rate. But that rests on just 23 deaths over nine years, so the true rate could sit anywhere from about 90 to 220. Most readers have never driven these counties: hover or tap a row to see where each one sits.

Sort by

The twenty highest-rate counties shade a rural belt across middle and southwest Georgia. None touch metro Atlanta.

Each dot is a county, placed at its rate; bigger dots have more total deaths. Hollow dots rest on fewer than 20 deaths, so the rate is uncertain. The dashed line marks Georgia's 14.8. Full data for all 159 counties is in the table and the CSV.

Full county table (159 counties)

Georgia counties by population-adjusted traffic-death rate, 2015 to 2023
#	County	Rate	Deaths	Population	Top road
1	Taliaferro few deaths	146.9	23	1,740	I-20
2	Warren	79.4	37	5,175	I-20
3	Webster few deaths	66.3	14	2,348	--
4	Twiggs	60.7	43	7,869	SR-96
5	Wilkinson	53.1	42	8,795	SR-57
6	Baker few deaths	51.0	13	2,830	SR-91
7	Hancock	48.9	38	8,630	SR-22
8	Mcintosh	48.7	49	11,187	I-95
9	Talbot	46.4	24	5,753	--
10	Clay few deaths	42.8	11	2,853	--
11	Cook	41.0	64	17,363	I-75
12	Wheeler	40.4	27	7,434	SR-19
13	Dooly	40.3	40	11,026	I-75
14	Macon	40.0	43	11,953	SR-49
15	Montgomery	39.7	31	8,675	--
16	Worth	38.9	72	20,575	SR-133
17	Stewart few deaths	37.9	17	4,978	--
18	Early	37.4	36	10,683	--
19	Franklin	37.3	80	23,840	I-85
20	Heard	37.3	39	11,616	SR-34
21	Rabun	37.0	57	17,107	SR-15
22	Terrell	36.0	29	8,941	SR-520
23	Jenkins	35.9	28	8,674	--
24	Candler	34.4	34	10,972	I-16
25	Treutlen few deaths	33.1	19	6,387	I-16
26	Burke	32.8	72	24,427	SR-24
27	Meriwether	32.7	61	20,757	SR-41
28	Screven	32.4	41	14,057	SR-21
29	Atkinson	32.3	24	8,261	SR-520
30	Dade	31.6	46	16,196	I-59
31	Emanuel	31.5	65	22,961	I-16
32	Clinch few deaths	31.4	19	6,722	--
33	Decatur	31.3	82	29,118	SR-1
34	Washington	31.3	56	19,893	SR-15
35	Monroe	30.7	80	28,919	I-75
36	Morgan	30.7	57	20,614	I-20
37	Glascock few deaths	30.5	8	2,913	--
38	Chattooga	30.3	68	24,975	SR-1
39	Miller few deaths	30.3	16	5,873	--
40	Peach	30.3	77	28,269	I-75
41	Jefferson	30.2	42	15,468	SR-4
42	Towns	29.7	34	12,739	SR-17
43	Seminole	29.2	24	9,117	--
44	Putnam	29.1	59	22,524	SR-24
45	Banks	29.0	49	18,757	SR-15
46	Haralson	28.6	79	30,720	I-20
47	Taylor	28.5	20	7,786	SR-96
48	Irwin	28.4	24	9,385	--
49	Butts	28.1	66	26,074	I-75
50	Evans	27.9	27	10,740	SR-129
51	Brooks	27.3	40	16,285	SR-76
52	Lincoln few deaths	27.2	19	7,773	SR-47
53	Telfair	26.5	29	12,174	--
54	Turner	26.2	21	8,915	I-75
55	Jasper	26.1	36	15,345	SR-83
56	Bacon	26.0	26	11,129	SR-4
57	Bleckley	26.0	29	12,414	--
58	Marion few deaths	25.3	17	7,474	SR-26
59	Dodge	25.1	45	19,909	--
60	Mcduffie	25.1	49	21,687	I-20
61	Colquitt	24.9	103	45,907	SR-111
62	Jeff Davis	24.7	33	14,838	--
63	Laurens	24.4	109	49,619	I-16
64	Chattahoochee	24.2	20	9,181	SR-520
65	Ware	24.1	78	35,958	SR-520
66	Echols few deaths	24.0	8	3,705	--
67	Stephens	24.0	58	26,842	SR-17
68	Elbert	23.7	42	19,725	SR-17
69	Bartow	23.2	232	111,153	I-75
70	Hart	23.1	55	26,484	SR-51
71	White	23.0	59	28,454	SR-115
72	Appling	22.9	38	18,426	--
73	Gilmer	22.9	66	31,976	SR-52
74	Bibb	22.8	321	156,543	I-75
75	Wilcox few deaths	22.8	18	8,784	--
76	Greene	22.7	40	19,586	I-20
77	Mitchell	22.3	43	21,441	SR-112
78	Toombs	22.3	54	26,943	SR-292
79	Crisp	22.2	40	19,995	SR-300
80	Grady	22.2	52	26,056	SR-111
81	Schley few deaths	22.0	9	4,539	--
82	Crawford	21.9	24	12,183	SR-42
83	Baldwin	21.4	84	43,669	SR-22
84	Coffee	21.4	83	43,161	SR-32
85	Jackson	21.4	155	80,640	I-85
86	Harris	21.3	68	35,509	SR-219
87	Polk	21.3	83	43,365	SR-6
88	Oglethorpe	21.2	29	15,221	SR-10
89	Pike	21.0	37	19,540	SR-18
90	Troup	21.0	132	69,821	I-85
91	Lumpkin	20.6	63	33,931	SR-52
92	Dawson	20.5	53	28,704	SR-53
93	Tattnall	20.2	44	24,215	SR-23
94	Carroll	19.6	215	122,187	SR-166
95	Bulloch	19.5	143	81,372	I-16
96	Habersham	19.4	82	46,948	SR-17
97	Madison	19.4	54	30,914	SR-72
98	Murray	19.3	70	40,282	SR-225
99	Charlton	19.2	22	12,711	--
100	Pulaski few deaths	19.1	17	9,893	--
101	Brantley	19.0	31	18,171	--
102	Thomas	19.0	78	45,696	SR-3
103	Berrien	18.9	31	18,257	SR-11
104	Wayne	18.9	52	30,519	SR-169
105	Tift	18.8	70	41,322	SR-520
106	Wilkes few deaths	18.6	16	9,553	--
107	Long	18.4	29	17,512	SR-23
108	Floyd	18.3	163	98,985	SR-1
109	Liberty	18.1	109	66,826	I-95
110	Spalding	18.1	111	68,215	SR-3
111	Fannin	17.8	41	25,605	SR-2
112	Gordon	17.7	93	58,336	I-75
113	Randolph few deaths	17.7	10	6,270	--
114	Lamar	17.5	30	19,098	SR-36
115	Dougherty	17.3	131	83,915	SR-91
116	Pickens	17.2	53	34,197	SR-5
117	Pierce	17.2	31	19,996	--
118	Newton	17.1	178	115,530	I-20
119	Johnson few deaths	16.9	14	9,192	--
120	Union	16.5	38	25,598	SR-11
121	Barrow	16.4	128	86,982	SR-211
122	Jones	16.4	42	28,526	--
123	Glynn	16.3	125	84,987	I-95
124	Calhoun few deaths	16.1	8	5,528	--
125	Sumter	15.6	41	29,174	--
126	Upson	15.6	39	27,856	SR-74
127	Lowndes	15.5	166	119,055	I-75
128	Richmond	15.4	286	206,040	I-520
129	Clayton	15.3	412	298,771	I-75
130	Whitfield	15.3	142	103,118	I-75
131	Bryan	15.0	63	46,681	I-16
132	Walker	14.4	89	68,449	SR-1
133	Coweta	14.1	191	150,071	I-85
134	Dekalb	14.0	958	762,105	I-285
135	Rockdale	13.7	116	94,293	SR-138
136	Ben Hill	13.6	21	17,138	--
137	Douglas	13.5	177	146,141	I-20
138	Lanier few deaths	13.2	12	10,094	--
139	Camden	13.1	66	56,036	I-95
140	Hall	13.1	246	208,395	SR-60
141	Chatham	12.9	347	298,143	I-95
142	Lee	12.7	38	33,337	SR-3
143	Oconee	12.5	48	42,788	SR-15
144	Effingham	12.4	75	67,265	SR-21
145	Fulton	12.4	1194	1,068,507	I-285
146	Walton	12.1	109	100,361	SR-11
147	Catoosa	12.0	74	68,356	I-75
148	Henry	11.8	261	245,417	I-75
149	Muscogee	11.3	207	204,383	I-185
150	Paulding	10.9	171	174,292	SR-61
151	Clarke	10.7	124	129,267	SR-10
152	Quitman few deaths	10.6	2	2,092	--
153	Houston	9.3	139	166,902	I-75
154	Fayette	8.8	96	120,689	SR-85
155	Cobb	8.0	557	769,152	I-75
156	Columbia	7.7	111	159,638	I-20
157	Cherokee	6.7	166	274,539	I-575
158	Gwinnett	6.4	558	966,972	I-85
159	Forsyth	5.8	136	260,062	SR-9
	Georgia (statewide)	14.8	14,403	--	--

Which contributing causes show up most in fatal accidents in Georgia?

Nothing exotic is driving the toll. The mix of contributing causes (night driving, pedestrians, trucks, motorcycles) looks like the rest of the country. Georgia simply has more of them for its size.

51% After dark

6,802 crashes

20% Pedestrian involved

2,682 crashes

15% Interstate

1,934 crashes

13% Large truck (involvement, not fault)

1,711 crashes

12% Motorcycle

1,580 crashes

12% Police-reported drinking driver (a floor; FARS undercounts alcohol)

1,564 crashes

Each share is of the 13,327 mapped crashes; a crash can count in more than one row. Rural roads account for 36% of Georgia's fatal crashes, and 41% of rural fatal crashes happen after dark.

When do fatal wrecks happen the most in Georgia?

The most fatal crashes happen Saturday at 11 p.m., but that is partly because so many people are driving then. Adjust for how much traffic is actually on the road, and the week's hours rearrange:

Time when wrecks occur

All days of the week averaged together; the dashed ring marks the average traffic hour.

Days when wrecks occur

Fatal crashes per night, 9 p.m.-3 a.m.

Credited to the night they began. Saturday night records 827 (more than double the Monday-to-Thursday average of about 389) and Friday night runs close behind.

The adjusted view is drawn to a true zero scale against the average traffic hour: 2-3 a.m. runs about four times it. Switch to total crashes and the counts climb through the afternoon to a 6 p.m. peak, with 4 a.m. the quietest; that view scales wedges between the quietest and busiest hours. Just over half of fatal crashes (51%) carry the police "dark" lighting code, which includes early winter evenings.

Full hour-by-day table

Georgia fatal crashes by hour of day and weekday, 2015 to 2023
Hour	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
12am	152	72	45	56	46	79	111
1am	107	57	42	46	41	50	98
2am	126	39	40	53	38	52	104
3am	105	41	31	31	38	44	112
4am	62	40	30	29	56	38	83
5am	57	65	49	66	61	73	62
6am	70	79	90	97	88	83	79
7am	52	87	76	93	93	78	55
8am	45	52	69	53	56	63	45
9am	42	64	45	56	49	67	61
10am	37	66	40	51	52	61	64
11am	45	64	67	54	62	64	69
12pm	66	78	60	65	72	75	67
1pm	74	75	69	76	86	71	69
2pm	83	78	78	85	67	90	87
3pm	78	97	98	94	90	104	122
4pm	75	96	97	88	98	100	97
5pm	102	91	98	109	99	89	111
6pm	104	90	108	113	107	123	133
7pm	120	97	84	106	94	142	132
8pm	123	104	89	95	101	118	132
9pm	118	96	104	81	111	131	135
10pm	94	79	65	74	83	143	152
11pm	77	77	58	54	86	111	155

The most dangerous roads in Georgia

Is it just the interstates?

You might guess that rural deaths spike where the interstates cross empty counties, and for the very worst outliers, that is exactly right. 14 of Taliaferro's 19 fatal crashes sit on I-20; so do 18 of Warren's 30.

But the interstates do not fully explain rural Georgia. Statewide, only 9% of rural fatal crashes, fewer than one in ten, happen on an interstate, and 13 of the 20 highest-rate counties recorded no interstate fatal crash at all in nine years. For example, Hancock County had 38 deaths over nine years and none of them were on an interstate; its deadliest road is state route 22.

Which Georgia road has recorded the most deaths?

I-75 recorded 450 fatal crashes and 507 deaths, more than any other Georgia road. But counting deaths and counting risk are not the same thing: once you measure by the miles actually driven, the ranking inverts: I-75 drops to among the safest, and I-20 becomes the most dangerous.

The second inversion

I-75 sees by far the most deaths of the four: 507 over 2015 to 2023, more than I-85 (266) and I-285 (208) combined. Yet per mile driven it sits among the safest, tied with I-85 at about 0.53 death per 100 million miles. The outlier is I-20: about 0.70, roughly a third higher than the low pair.

Crashes 2015-2023; traffic volumes from the 2018 federal highway inventory, the release nearest the middle of the crash window. We checked the 2024 release: rates dip as traffic recovers, but the ordering holds. Both scales start at zero.

I-75

Florida line to Tennessee line: 355 miles

449 fatal crashes, 506 deaths

one fatal crashkilled more than one person

Off the interstates, which Georgia roads show up the most?

Georgia's deadliest non-interstate is the US-41/19 corridor, from the Tennessee line above Dalton to the Florida line. It claimed 275 lives during the period studied. Its worst stretch is Tara Boulevard in Clayton County, which had 54 fatal crashes, more than any other non-interstate route within a single county.

Recorded deaths, ranked. Counts, not per-mile risk.

Each line is one police route designation, drawn along its full signed route; where two designations share pavement, the deadlier line draws on top. A crash at an intersection counts toward both roads. Select a road for its numbers.

Top non-interstate roads, full data

The ten deadliest non-interstate roads in Georgia, 2015 to 2023
#	Route	Where it runs	Deaths	Crashes	Worst county
1	SR-3	the US-41 corridor, from the Tennessee line above Dalton to the Florida line	275	261	Clayton (54)
2	SR-1	US-27's twin, from Walker County down the west edge to Decatur County	241	219	Floyd (38)
3	SR-11	from Blairsville to the Florida line	176	162	Hall (23)
4	SR-10	from Memorial Drive in Atlanta through Athens to Augusta	144	141	Dekalb (41)
5	SR-8	from the Alabama line through Atlanta to the South Carolina line	140	127	Gwinnett (31)
6	SR-20	from the Alabama line west of Rome, around metro Atlanta's outer edge, to McDonough	137	125	Gwinnett (27)
7	SR-15	US-441, from the North Carolina line past Athens to the Florida line	134	116	Jackson (22)
8	SR-520	US-82, from Stewart County through Albany and Waycross to the coast	131	118	Ware (19)
9	US-19	from the North Carolina line above Blairsville to Albany	128	119	Clayton (29)
10	US-27	from the Tennessee line to the Florida line, sharing SR-1's pavement most of the way	128	117	Muscogee (19)

The pandemic surge receded but never returned to 2019 levels

2023's 1,615 deaths were down 11% from the 2021 peak of 1,809 but still 8% above 2019, the last pre-surge year.

Covid alone does not explain the surge in fatal car accidents.

Georgia and U.S. traffic-death rates, per 100,000

Road deaths surged nationwide in 2020-2021 even as total driving fell: higher speeds and lighter enforcement. Georgia followed the same curve: its rate climbed from 14.3 per 100,000 in 2019 to 17.0 in 2021, then eased to 14.9 in 2023, still above 2019. The elevated rate has outlived the pandemic itself: per mile driven, 2023 still runs about 14% above 2019. Georgia's 2023 segment is dashed because the U.S. 2023 rate isn't published yet; the two lines share data only through 2022.

And per mile driven, statewide

Georgia recorded 1.28 deaths for every 100 million miles driven in 2023; the rate ran from 1.12 in 2019 to 1.50 in 2021 (deaths 2015-2023 against FHWA vehicle-miles for each year, matched to the published state rate). It counts deaths against miles driven, not just residents.

Full data table

Georgia and U.S. traffic-death rates per 100,000, by year
Year	Georgia	United States
2015	--	11.06
2016	--	11.7
2017	--	11.53
2018	14.62	11.27
2019	14.34	11.07
2020	15.77	11.77
2021	17.02	13.02
2022	16.75	12.82
2023	14.92	--

Look up your county or road

Search any Georgia county, interstate, U.S. highway, or state route to pull a self-contained local report you can link to.

Search a Georgia county or road

All Georgia

14,403 people killed in 13,345 fatal crashes, 2015-2023. Statewide rate about 14.8 per 100,000 residents a year.

Browse the busiest counties and interstates:

Baker
Clay
Cook
Dooly
Early
Franklin
Hancock
Heard
Macon
Mcintosh
Montgomery
Stewart
Talbot
Taliaferro
Twiggs
Warren
Webster
Wheeler
Wilkinson
Worth

I-75: 450 crashes, 507 deaths
I-20: 276 crashes, 304 deaths
I-85: 239 crashes, 266 deaths
I-285: 191 crashes, 208 deaths
I-16: 99 crashes, 126 deaths
I-95: 95 crashes, 110 deaths

Taliaferro County

19Fatal crashes

23People killed

146.9Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

Based on 23 deaths over nine years in a county of 1,740 residents. Small numbers here mean the rate can swing a lot year to year.

I-20 12 crashes, 15 deaths
SR-22 3 crashes, 3 deaths

Warren County

30Fatal crashes

37People killed

79.4Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

I-20 16 crashes, 21 deaths
SR-12 2 crashes, 3 deaths

Webster County

10Fatal crashes

14People killed

66.3Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

Based on 14 deaths over nine years in a county of 2,348 residents. Small numbers here mean the rate can swing a lot year to year.

SR-520 4 crashes, 8 deaths
SR-41 2 crashes, 2 deaths

Twiggs County

38Fatal crashes

43People killed

60.7Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-96 11 crashes, 12 deaths
I-16 9 crashes, 11 deaths
SR-358 3 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-57 3 crashes, 3 deaths
US-23 SR-87 2 crashes, 2 deaths

Wilkinson County

33Fatal crashes

42People killed

53.1Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-57 8 crashes, 9 deaths
SR-29 3 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-96 2 crashes, 2 deaths
US-441 SR-29 2 crashes, 3 deaths
SR-540 2 crashes, 6 deaths

Baker County

12Fatal crashes

13People killed

51.0Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

Based on 13 deaths over nine years in a county of 2,830 residents. Small numbers here mean the rate can swing a lot year to year.

SR-91 5 crashes, 6 deaths

Hancock County

36Fatal crashes

38People killed

48.9Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-22 10 crashes, 10 deaths
SR-16 9 crashes, 10 deaths
SR-15 7 crashes, 8 deaths

Mcintosh County

46Fatal crashes

49People killed

48.7Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

I-95 17 crashes, 20 deaths
SR-25 7 crashes, 7 deaths
SR-99 5 crashes, 5 deaths
SR-57 4 crashes, 4 deaths
US-17 SR-25 2 crashes, 2 deaths

Talbot County

23Fatal crashes

24People killed

46.4Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-96 4 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-22 4 crashes, 4 deaths

Clay County

10Fatal crashes

11People killed

42.8Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

Based on 11 deaths over nine years in a county of 2,853 residents. Small numbers here mean the rate can swing a lot year to year.

SR-37 4 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-1 2 crashes, 3 deaths

Cook County

57Fatal crashes

64People killed

41.0Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

I-75 18 crashes, 21 deaths
SR-37 3 crashes, 3 deaths
SR-76 3 crashes, 3 deaths
SR-7 2 crashes, 2 deaths
I-75 SR-401 2 crashes, 3 deaths

Wheeler County

24Fatal crashes

27People killed

40.4Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-19 6 crashes, 7 deaths
SR-30 4 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-126 2 crashes, 2 deaths

Dooly County

38Fatal crashes

40People killed

40.3Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

I-75 12 crashes, 14 deaths
SR-7 3 crashes, 3 deaths
SR-230 2 crashes, 2 deaths
US-41 SR-7 2 crashes, 2 deaths
SR-257 2 crashes, 2 deaths

Macon County

36Fatal crashes

43People killed

40.0Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-49 8 crashes, 11 deaths
SR-26 4 crashes, 5 deaths
SR-224 3 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-127 3 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-128 2 crashes, 3 deaths

Montgomery County

28Fatal crashes

31People killed

39.7Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-30 4 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-56 3 crashes, 4 deaths
SR-135 3 crashes, 3 deaths
SR-15 3 crashes, 4 deaths

Worth County

60Fatal crashes

72People killed

38.9Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-133 8 crashes, 11 deaths
SR-300 6 crashes, 6 deaths
SR-520 6 crashes, 7 deaths
SR-33 5 crashes, 7 deaths
SR-313 5 crashes, 5 deaths

Stewart County

16Fatal crashes

17People killed

37.9Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

Based on 17 deaths over nine years in a county of 4,978 residents. Small numbers here mean the rate can swing a lot year to year.

SR-1 4 crashes, 5 deaths
SR-39 2 crashes, 2 deaths
SR-520 2 crashes, 2 deaths

Early County

30Fatal crashes

36People killed

37.4Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-62 4 crashes, 5 deaths
SR-38 3 crashes, 5 deaths
SR-39 2 crashes, 3 deaths

Franklin County

70Fatal crashes

80People killed

37.3Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

I-85 20 crashes, 28 deaths
SR-17 5 crashes, 5 deaths
SR-106 3 crashes, 3 deaths
SR-51 3 crashes, 3 deaths
I-85 S 2 crashes, 2 deaths

Heard County

37Fatal crashes

39People killed

37.3Deaths per 100,000 per year

abovevs Georgia (14.8)

SR-34 6 crashes, 6 deaths
SR-1 6 crashes, 7 deaths
SR-100 5 crashes, 5 deaths
US-27 / SR-1 2 crashes, 3 deaths

How we built this

Every figure comes from NHTSA's FARS census of fatal crashes, 2015-2023, aggregated by Wetherington Law Firm; the method is documented below.

How to NOT use this data

Only crashes that killed someone are in the federal file. The far larger world of injury crashes is not on this page.
Small counties rest on a handful of deaths, so their rates swing. Taliaferro's rate is real, but nine years of data in a county of 1,700 people can only be so precise.
The traffic-adjusted risk figures describe the road as a whole at that hour, not any one driver's odds. Much of the 2 a.m. multiplier is who else is on the road at 2 a.m.
Per-mile risk is measured only for the state as a whole and the four big interstates, and the traffic counts behind it date to 2018. No single road earns an outright "most dangerous" label from that.
Georgia overlays a state-route number on every U.S. highway, so one road can be coded under either name. The road rankings keep designations exactly as police coded them, and a crash at an intersection counts toward both roads.
The drinking-driver share is an undercount. Police mark many crashes "unknown," so the real number is higher than the one we can print.

How this was built

Counts come from NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, a census of every fatal crash, 2015-2023. Crashes were geocoded to their reported latitude and longitude; 13,327 of 13,345 had usable coordinates. County rates are average annual deaths per 100,000 residents using each county's latest Census ACS 5-year population (2023 vintage); the statewide reference is about 14.8. The Georgia-vs-U.S. rate comparison uses 2018-2022, with Georgia on Census ACS 5-year population and the U.S. on Census annual estimates. Interstate positions were computed by snapping crash coordinates to Census TIGER/Line road centerlines; corridor positions are approximate, and Georgia resets mileposts county by county. The traffic-adjusted time-of-week figures divide each hour's share of fatal crashes by that hour's share of traffic volume, recorded by FHWA continuous-count stations across Georgia over all twelve months of 2022 (3.5 billion vehicles counted; 2019 volumes give the same answer). Large-truck, pedestrian, motorcycle, night, and alcohol figures are shares of the 13,327 mapped crashes; alcohol is police-reported and undercounted.

Data current as of July 2026. The 2023 FARS final file was released in 2025; the 2024 file was not yet published.

Suggested citation: Wetherington Law Firm, "Georgia Road Safety," analysis of NHTSA FARS 2015-2023, /georgia-road-safety/, accessed [date].

Injured in a Georgia crash?

Talk with a Georgia attorney. Our attorneys handle crash cases in every one of Georgia's 159 counties. The consultation is free.

Name

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Georgia Ranks #4 for Fatal Wrecks

Start with two maps of the same crashes

Which Georgia counties have the most fatal accidents?

Which contributing causes show up most in fatal accidents in Georgia?

When do fatal wrecks happen the most in Georgia?

Time when wrecks occur

Days when wrecks occur

The most dangerous roads in Georgia

Is it just the interstates?

Which Georgia road has recorded the most deaths?

Off the interstates, which Georgia roads show up the most?

The pandemic surge receded but never returned to 2019 levels

Georgia and U.S. traffic-death rates, per 100,000

And per mile driven, statewide

Look up your county or road

All Georgia

Selected place

Taliaferro County

Warren County

Webster County

Twiggs County

Wilkinson County

Baker County

Hancock County

Mcintosh County

Talbot County

Clay County

Cook County

Wheeler County

Dooly County

Macon County

Montgomery County

Worth County

Stewart County

Early County

Franklin County

Heard County

How we built this

How to NOT use this data

More from this series

Have a Case? Contact Us Today