Even with advances to driving technology coming online in recent years designed specifically to make roads safer—think of the rear-view camera display on your dashboard, as well as parking or lane change assist systems that account for ‘blind spots’—the number of fatal incidents on American roads remains relatively steady year-over-year.  

In fact, the 2025 Roadmap to Safety Report from the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) estimates that 40,099 Americans were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2023—the latest year with complete government and private sector reporting. While this figure is roughly 3 percent down from the more than 42,000 fatalities tracked in 2022, the early numbers for 2024 are trending at-pace with annual averages over the past decade. 

While loss of life is the greatest price paid in this context—and the most important number to try to drive down—the fallout from these incidents includes a financial burden that touches a wide array of stakeholders. 

In this blog, we’ll break down how much vehicle crash incidents and fatalities impact the larger economy, and steps that businesses can take to make their driving workforce safer. 

A “crash tax” on every US citizen 

According to the Advocates, it’s estimated that vehicle crashes in 2019 cost the US economy roughly $340 billion—or $417 billion when adjusted for inflation in 2024.  

Digging into the numbers, the Network of Employers for Traffic Safety (NETS) tallied up the total cost of direct crash-related expenses to exceed $72 billion for employers specifically. This includes everything from legal settlements for incidents that happen while employees are driving company-provided cars, to broad-based insurance premium rate hikes that trail drivers—and their employers—after even minor collisions.  

Breaking the numbers up even further, it’s estimated that—adjusted for inflation—vehicle collisions cost the US economy in 2022: 

• $141 billion in property damages 
• $130 billion in lost workplace or household productivity  
• $108 billion in ‘other’ or uncategorized costs 
• $38 billion in present and future medical bills 

Spread across the entire population, it’s estimated that vehicle crashes cost each individual American $1,268 in 2022—a price that the Advocates characterize as a “crash tax” for every citizen. 

Minimizing vehicle collision costs 

According to Cathy Chase, President of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, along with individuals and businesses ‘stepping up’ to combat the high incidence of traffic fatalities, state and local governments are behind in deploying key protections too.  

“Every day in the U.S., millions of people get behind the wheel, commuting to work or school, carpooling kids to music lessons or athletic events, or going to the market or a local hardware store. Not one of them thinks they are going to get into a crash, and yet an average of 116 people are killed, and more than 6,500 people are injured in motor vehicle crashes every day,” Chase said in a statement releasing the 2025 Report findings.  

The Advocates—which includes legislators from across the US—use their annual Roadmap to Safety report to grade every state and Washington, DC, on their progress in deploying protections for drivers. The grades are based on ratings in six categories: Occupant Protection, Child Passenger Safety, Young Drivers, Impaired Driving, Distracted Driving and Automated Enforcement to Curb Speed and Red Light Running. 

From there, the group applies a “green,” “yellow,” or “red” label to each state in their rank that reflects each state’s progress toward passing legislation that prioritizes driver safety. 

Only six states—Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington—and DC received a “green” rating. 

On the flip side, nine states were rated “red” for failing to make progress toward the Advocates’ proposals: Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.  

The remaining 35 states receive a “yellow” or caution rating, showing that by-and-large, the country has lots of work to do in ensuring better protections for drivers.  

Some of the specific measures outlined by the Advocates include: 

• 15 states need an optimal primary enforcement seat belt law for front seat passengers. 
• 186 GDL laws need to be adopted to ensure the safety of novice drivers; no state meets all the criteria recommended in this report. 
• 32 critical impaired driving laws are needed in 28 states. 
• 4 states need an optimal all-driver text messaging restriction. 
• 22 states need a GDL cell phone restriction. 
• 26 states need to permit red light cameras by law. 
• 22 states need to permit automated speed enforcement by law. 
• 28 states do not have automated speed enforcement in use. 

Setting your driving employees up for safety and success 

Keeping America’s roads safe is more than just the responsibility of legislators. While drivers themselves need to take accountability for their individual actions, there are steps employers can take to guide better behaviors—and ideally stem the incidence of accidents—across their mobile workforce. 

Although there are an array of vehicle programs available to meet the specific needs of businesses across industries, every company can benefit from standardizing safety protocols. 

For instance, it’s estimated that roughly 75 percent of drivers who have had their licenses suspended remain behind the wheel. Businesses need to be able to actively and passively monitor Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) so that they are alerted proactively when risky behavior—ie. Driving without a license—could unlock a higher risk of collisions and costs to the business.  

Similarly, businesses need to be sure that their drivers have adequate and effective insurance coverage. Even if your business uses a reimbursement model to repay drivers for their work travel in a personal vehicle, you still need to ensure there are no lapses in personal coverage that could make your business liable in the event of an on-the-job collision. 

There’s also the opportunity for vehicle program administrators to enroll their driving employees in safety training, improving employees’ core driving skills to proactively instill best practices across their driving workforce.  

Learn more about how you can monitor Motor Vehicle Records without overextending your administrative workload in this guide, and reach out to our team today to learn about the full suite of Motus Protect solutions.  

Vehicle Crash Impact 2024: Economic & Safety FAQ 

Q1: What Are the Latest US Vehicle Crash Statistics? 

• 40,099 Americans died in motor vehicle crashes in 2023 
• 116 people are killed daily in crashes 
• Over 6,500 people are injured daily 
• 77% of employed Americans commute by car 
• 240+ million Americans drive annually 

Q2: What is the Economic Impact of Vehicle Crashes? 

• Total economic cost: $417 billion (2024, adjusted for inflation) 
• Employer costs: $72 billion 
• Property damage: $141 billion 
• Lost productivity: $130 billion 
• Medical costs: $38 billion 
• “Crash tax” per American: $1,268 

Q3: How Are States Performing on Road Safety? 

• Only 6 states received “green” safety ratings: Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington 
• 9 states rated “red” for insufficient progress 
• 35 states received “yellow” ratings 
• Most states lack comprehensive safety legislation for seat belts, graduated driver licensing, and impaired driving 

Q4: What Key Safety Laws Are Missing Across States? 

• 15 states need primary seat belt laws 
• 186 graduated driver licensing laws needed 
• 32 impaired driving laws needed across 28 states 
• 26 states need red light camera laws 
• 22 states need automated speed enforcement 

Q5: How Can Businesses Protect Against Driver Risk? 

• Monitor Motor Vehicle Records (MVR) 
• Verify insurance coverage 
• Implement driver safety training 
• Address suspended license risks (75% of suspended drivers continue driving) 
• Standardize safety protocols across mobile workforce 

Note: Statistics based on 2025 Roadmap to Safety Report from Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety. 

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Set Clear Goals

You can’t measure remote workforce performance without clear goals. And it’s important to keep in mind that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. When it comes to setting up the right performance management system, it will depend on your company culture. First and foremost, you’ll need to identify and understand the goals that make sense for your culture and organization. Then, you’ll be able to come up with a program that supports your goals.

Next, you’ll need to have a process in place for setting goals and objectives at the company, department and individual level. With these in place, you’ll be able to set measurable objectives for each team member that tie back to the overarching company goals. This will make it easier for team members to build out quarterly 90-day plans and connect their work to larger company initiatives.

Communicate Regularly

It’s also critical to provide opportunities for team members to give and receive feedback on a regular basis. This goes beyond the traditional feedback provided by a manager to a team member. It starts with developing a culture that embraces delivering and receiving constructive feedback. A few tactics HR leaders can put in place to help aid the sharing of feedback include quarterly self-assessments, peer and upward feedback surveys and regular 1:1s between managers and their team members.

Focus on providing the right tools to facilitate regular communication. HR specifically can help foster a culture where support, feedback and communication are welcomed. But, HR can’t do it alone. Those values also have to come from leadership and people across the company. Team members have to want to share and receive feedback.

HR teams should make sure there are ways to give developmental feedback in a remote environment. For example, HR can provide guidance to managers on how and when to share certain types of feedback, i.e. this is appropriate over email vs. this requires a conversation over the phone or video.

Focus On Results

At Motus, we’ve developed a performance management program that ensures team members receive regular feedback and professional development opportunities while also recognizing top performers. To be honest, not a lot changed with our performance management program when Motus moved to working remotely full-time. It’s part of the culture we had in place before the pandemic and we’ve proven it can be successful in the office or remote.

The key to our success is that we’ve always been focused on outcomes and results. That’s why we can have things like unlimited PTO and flex time policies. With a focus on outcomes, you’re able to determine if a team member met expectations and if not, what they need to do to be successful. We’ve found that it’s helpful to have templates and processes in place to help team members understand the expectations. At Motus, we achieve this through individual 90-day plans and quarterly self-assessments supported by manager feedback.

Providing visibility into measures is also important in this process. Technology can help you track and report on metrics and KPIs, for example, with something like real-time dashboards in your CRM tool. This gives employees the ability to check in on performance relative to the objectives and goals. By setting objectives and completing assessments each quarter, team members receive feedback all year long, as opposed to only on an annual basis.

Getting Started with Remote Workforce Performance Measures

Hopefully these best practices will help you get started. Ultimately, building a performance management program will depend on your company culture. That makes focusing on your culture another great place to start. Remember to facilitate regular communication,  focus on results and provide templates and documented processes. These will help your team succeed in a remote work environment.

If you’re interested in learning more about remote work best practices, you can find more blog posts here.

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The Danger of Driving in 2017

The estimated cost of motor-vehicle deaths, injuries, and property damage in 2016 were approximately $432.5 billion—a twelve percent increase from the previous year. Additionally, motor vehicle deaths in 2016 amounted to 40,200 — the highest number of fatalities since 2007. And because employers are responsible for the harm their employees cause if an accident happens within the bounds of the employee’s job duties, employers with mobile workers are well advised to focus on driver safety and reduce driver distraction.

Not only are motor-vehicle crashes physically dangerous — they also cost businesses time and money. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), work-related motor vehicle crashes can cost employers up to $60 billion annually in medical care, property damage, lost productivity and legal expenses. And these crashes typically cause employees (on average) to miss three days of work — translating into a meaningful dip in workforce productivity.

Improving Driver Safety for Your Team

To combat the dangers, costs and legal repercussions associated with motor-vehicle accidents and driver risk, businesses should consider individualized safety programs that take a holistic approach to protecting mobile employees. Such programs typically include safety monitoring and training, risk profiling, data analysis and more.

By providing mobile employees with the tools to drive safely and manage their risk on the road, employers can create a more productive and cost-effective workforce that allows their employees to conduct business and visit clients instead of being out of work for multiple days recovering from an accident.

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Looking back on the discussion points from these events, the recurring themes were speed and efficiency. The mantra at the FinancialForce conference was “Speed is the new currency.” These discussions got me thinking about how an agile framework can be applied across an entire enterprise. When the Finance team is operating with an agile mindset, it operates more efficiently and finance leaders make well-informed decisions more easily.

What it means to be agile

Agile is a software development methodology, which focuses on continuous evolution and rapid iteration and feedback loops to drive innovation. The idea of being agile is related to how a business operates in terms of speed and agility.

Here at Motus, we’ve implemented agile frameworks across our technology teams to adapt more quickly and move faster. Agile frameworks allow for prioritizing tasks, dealing with unforeseen roadblocks and being able to adapt to meet deadlines for complex projects. As a result, our technology teams provide continuous improvements to our platform through short sprints, which enables us to deliver increased value to our clients.

Applying Agile to the Back Office

Agile frameworks are not only useful for development teams. These methods can be applied across the business, including the Finance team’s approach to reporting and analytics. From my perspective, being agile is a combination of interconnecting these different tools that enable teams to move much faster with the ability to close, report and then layer on additional analytics to produce predictive insights to the finance leader.

At Motus, we’re taking steps to be more agile by interconnecting our data across the business and analyzing the aggregated data to iterate more quickly and speed up the decision-making process. We’re able to get feedback more quickly and either move forward or adapt based on the findings. This is a challenge many finance teams are presented with when trying to uncover ways to be more agile. In fact, an IBM Study of CFOs and senior Finance professionals found that “there are large gaps in most Finance organizations between the importance placed on delivering insight and their ability to deliver it.” The IBM research further states that “inconsistent tools/applications and fragmented information” are the reasons for these information gaps.

Connecting the Data

The first step towards rapid analytics is to examine how your data systems are set up across your business to ensure you can aggregate information across the enterprise. A key advantage of using cloud-based tools and leveraging APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) is that you can decouple suites of software and get the point solutions that work best for your team.

For example, at Motus, our agility comes from how we’ve architected our data systems with various cloud solutions, taking advantage of APIs and ETL tools to pull data from our operating platform, CRM, financial management and accounting system (FinancialForce) into our cloud-based forecasting and budgeting system (Host Analytics) to calculate KPIs and model different scenarios. Our last step is to aggregate all of this data into a system like Domo, that presents it back in a holistic view to myself and the executive leadership. We’re still in the early innings of this transformation but it has definitely shifted our focus from historical reporting to providing valuable analytics.

As businesses strive to be more agile to compete in the market, they’re looking to layer on other third-party business intelligence sources as a competitive advantage. At Host Analytics World, they pointed out their integration with Prevedere as part of this initiative, where their solution takes macro financial trends and applies them against corporate data to reveal correlations. For example, comparing marketing to sales performance and adapting the strategy based on those insights. Systems like Prevedere offer the capabilities to reach beyond your own data and provide predictive insights to finance leaders, enabling them to make more accurate forecasts and business decisions.

This is an exciting time for Finance. The digital transformation that has taken place across the enterprise has arrived in the back office. By leveraging SaaS solutions designed specifically for Finance teams, CFOs can position their businesses to move quickly.

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