Car crash deaths in Michigan fall 5 percent in 2018

In 2018, Michigan had 974 car-crash deaths, down 5 percent from the 1,028 the state had in 2017, and is the first time since 2015 the total came in under 1,000, according to the Michigan State Police Criminal Justice Information Center.

Alcohol-involved fatalities also fell, to 315 in 2018 compared to 359 in 2017.

The numbers fell in almost all sub-categories, including pedestrian deaths, which fell to 145 from 158, a drop of eight percent, and deer-involved deaths, which fell to 14 from 17, a drop of 18 percent. 

There were 21 bicyclist deaths last year, same as it had been in 2017. 

Thus far, the 236 fatal crashes in Michigan in 2019 are slightly ahead of where they were this time last year, when there were 222. 

The 1,028 crash fatalities in 2017 were about 3.5 percent less than the 1,068 in 2016, but from 2008 to 2015, crash deaths came in consistently under 1,000. In 2007, there were 1,084 crash deaths. They fell by more than 100 in 2008, to 980.