Free Consultation | 24/7 Live Answering
(912) 325-7783
Behind every crash statistic is a person: a commuter who didn’t make it home, a pedestrian crossing Ogeechee Road, a family dealing with months of recovery. The numbers help explain where and why collisions happen in and around Savannah, and what drivers can do to stay safer.
The figures below come from state traffic safety agencies, a Chatham County safety study, and local reporting. Where data covers a specific area or period, we note it.
According to the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, 1,797 people died in motor vehicle crashes in Georgia in 2022, a rate of 1.39 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. That was a 1% decrease from 1,809 deaths in 2021, but Georgia still ranked fourth in the nation for the number of traffic fatalities.
Local fatality numbers rose sharply in recent years. As WTOC reported during a 2023 enforcement operation, federal crash data showed Chatham County traffic deaths climbing from 29 in 2017 to 41 in 2021, an increase of about 40%. Preliminary figures showed 42 deaths in 2022.
That trend prompted the Savannah Police Department to request help from state highway safety enforcement teams. A state highway safety official noted at the time that Savannah had seen more traffic deaths than homicides that year.
More recent data for state-owned roads in the city shows improvement. Citing the Georgia Department of Transportation’s crash dashboard, WTOC reported in June 2026 that there were three fatal crashes on state-owned roads in Savannah in 2025, down from nine in 2024, and 38 since 2021.
The most detailed local data comes from Chatham County’s Safe Streets for All existing conditions report, which analyzed crashes outside city limits from 2018 through 2022. Over those five years, there were 12,463 crashes, including 82 fatal crashes and 274 crashes with serious injuries.
| Year | Fatal crashes | Serious injury crashes | Total crashes |
| 2022 | 23 | 69 | 2,581 |
| 2021 | 32 | 62 | 2,728 |
| 2020 | 13 | 66 | 2,261 |
| 2019 | 5 | 48 | 2,651 |
| 2018 | 9 | 29 | 2,242 |
Fatal and serious crashes jumped in 2021 and 2022 after a dip in 2020, when pandemic-era traffic was lighter.
Rear-end collisions were by far the most frequent crash type in the county study, accounting for 5,052 of the 12,463 crashes, about 41%. These are often the crashes that cause whiplash and other neck injuries, which is why rear-end collision claims are among the most common cases we see.
The second most common category involved vehicles hitting something other than another vehicle, such as pedestrians, cyclists, trees, poles, or guardrails.
The county study broke down the 356 fatal and serious injury crashes by contributing factor. A single crash can fall into more than one category.
| Factor | Fatal and serious injury crashes | Fatal crashes |
| Intersection-related | 186 | 43 |
| Distracted driving | 105 | 21 |
| Single-vehicle crashes | 105 | 26 |
| Motorcycles | 53 | 13 |
| Impaired driving | 49 | 23 |
| Pedestrians | 29 | 11 |
| Large trucks | 19 | 6 |
| Bicycles | 9 | 0 |
A few patterns stand out:
Crash data points to clear lessons: put the phone down, slow down near intersections, never drive impaired, and watch for people walking along roads without sidewalks. Our guide to the most dangerous roads and highways in Savannah shows where these crashes cluster.
If you’re involved in a collision, our guide on what to do immediately after a car accident in Savannah walks through the steps that protect your health and your claim.
Founding attorney Benjamin Clary has spent 13 years helping people injured on coastal Georgia’s roads. He holds a Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rating and handles every case on a contingency fee basis.
If you’ve been hurt in a crash, a car accident lawyer at our firm can explain your options. We also handle truck accident cases in Richmond Hill and across the region. For any other injury, a personal injury lawyer at our firm can review your case for free.
Contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
