A Focus on Officer Traffic-Related Fatalities

When the National Law Enforcement Memorial released its 2025 Year-End Fatalities Report, findings revealed that the 111 officers who died in the line of duty last year represented an 80-year low in LODDs. This encouraging news was coupled with the fact that line-of-duty deaths were down in every category the NLEOMF tracks, including traffic-related fatalities. During the 2025 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 4th Quarter Traffic Safety Webinar, Nick Breul, Senior Program Manager with the NLEOMF, spoke about the numbers, the progress made, and what can be done to further prevent and drive down traffic-related LODDs.

“We can talk about the reasons and talk about what’s happening on the street and we can attribute it to better training. We can attribute it to better safety management,” he says. “We can attribute it to several things. And detractors will attribute it to law enforcement not being as engaged as they used to be. I don’t think that’s the case.”

In 2025 there were 34 traffic-related line-of-duty-deaths compared to 46 in 2024. That’s an overall decrease of 26%. There were 12 automobile crashes, 14 struck-by crashes, and six motorcycle crashes. For 2025, the average age was 42, and the average years of service was 12. There were 29 males killed and three females killed.

“Those numbers really haven’t changed in terms of the average,” he says. ”That’s stayed fairly consistent. Even the breakdown between male and female is quite consistent across years.”

Automobile crashes

Of the 12 automobile crashes, four were single-vehicle crashes, three were rear-end crashes where the officer hit a stopped vehicle, two were T-bone crashes, one was a head-on crash, one involved an officer who was rear-ended, and one involved striking an animal in the roadway. Four of the crashes occurred during a pursuit. Four occurred while on patrol. Two of the crashes involved officers responding to a call. Two of the crashes occurred with officers “coming and going” in take-home vehicles.

Breul noted that the single-vehicle crash data was encouraging because halfway through the year, there hadn’t been one single-vehicle crash reported. “That’s unusual, and I was very encouraged by that,” he says. “We had four later in the year, which is unfortunate. These are preventable. Most of the details were that they were responding priority, going too fast, lost control, and struck a fixed object. In one of those crashes, the officer was not on a response call but lost control while going around a curve to merge onto a roadway and lost control and ended up down into a ditch, hitting a culvert. The latest one that occurred towards the end of the year was a pursuit of a motorcyclist. The deputy was trying to make a U-turn and was going too fast.”

Conversely, he pointed out that the three rear end crashes were unfortunate because they all involved tractor-trailers. “In each of these cases, the officers ran into the back of a stopped or slowing semi-tractor trailer,” he says. “One was stopping in the left lane to turn left, and the other one was slowing to merge off of the highway. These are unfortunate because, most likely, the police officer was distracted and crashed right into the back of those vehicles. In a couple of those cases, the officer was not wearing a seat belt.”

Two of the automobile crashes were T-bone crashes at intersections. “One of those involved a pursuit of a stolen vehicle while the other involved a deputy in a rural area hitting the side of a tractor trailer that was hauling produce as it was crossing the roadway.”

Breul said that in the case where the officer was rear-ended, “This is one of those cases where we tell you to wear your seat belt even when you’re in a stopped vehicle. I’ll tell you right now, that would not have made a difference in this case because his car was hit so violently it crushed it up against the tractor trailer he had stopped to assist. It was a very violent crash.”

Another crash involved a deputy on his way home in his marked car in uniform after his shift. “He was driving along the roadway, and then some horses came out right in front of his car and he hit two of the horses. The impact killed the horses and the deputy ran off the road and ended up dying as a result of that crash,” he says. “It’s very unusual. Every year we seem to sort of have these anomalous cases.”

Struck-by fatalities

Struck-by crashes were down from 17 in 2024 to 14 in 2025 but up from the 10 recorded in 2023. In 2021 there were 27 struck by crashes as motorists returned to the road following the COVID-19 pandemic. “People are still driving very recklessly,” Breul says. “It’s inexcusable the way some people are operating right now, and we just have to make sure officers aren’t mimicking some of that behavior. But of course, distracted driving is a huge issue now. Everyone seems to have their beak in their phone.”

He realizes that the stuck-by numbers will trend up and down depending on certain factors, but that it’s something that needs to be focused on and that officers have to have an increased awareness.

Of the 14 struck-by fatalities, four occurred at crash scenes, three occurred while directing traffic, two of the officers were deploying tire deflation devices, two occurred at traffic stops, one was assisting a motorist, one was talking with a citizen, and one was removing debris.

With the four that occurred at crash scenes, Bruel stressed that it is one of the most maddening circumstances. “There are lights, cones, fire trucks, police cars and people in the roadway, people with reflective vests on etc.,” he says. In two of the LODDs, the officers had their lights on and were wearing their uniforms after arriving and getting out of their vehicle. But the other two were at full-on crash scenes. “It really speaks to the problem with people not obeying Slow Down and Move Over laws. Despite all of the lights and markings, they’re not looking up. They come on the scene so fast and react too slowly.”

Two officers were struck and killed while deploying tire deflation devices. “This is entirely preventable, right? You can use the tether. Make sure you’re communicating with the folks in the pursuit that you’re laying out sticks or spikes and you yourself are behind more than your patrol vehicle and are behind an abutment or a rail, guard rail, or something that will divert that vehicle if it comes near you,” he says. “Use that tether to pull that tire deflation devices in front of that speeding vehicle.”

Nine of the 14 struck-by crashes occurred during hours of darkness. Seven were violations of Slow Down and Move Over laws. Four involved impaired drivers, and one driver was distracted at the time of the crash.

Breul said that a majority of struck-by incidents occurring at night is something to consider. “Certainly, that’ll enhance the chances of someone being struck because of the low light conditions,” he says. “But again, all these patrol cars have their lights on.”

Motorcycle fatalities

In 2025, there were a total of six motorcycle fatalities. Two of the officers were conducting escorts, two were on admin duties responding to headquarters, one was on patrol and one motor officer was intentionally struck.

Breul says escorts are without a doubt one of the most common circumstances where motorcycle police officers are struck and killed. “They’re struck and killed as they go ahead to cut and pull traffic at an intersection so the escort detail can be pushed through that intersection, or they get struck and killed by people turning out of line.”

The importance of seat belts

According to the NLEOMF, In 2024, 56% of officers in fatal crashes were not wearing their seat belts. In 2025, that number was right at 50%. Breul concluded his analysis of the 2025 numbers by asking for more emphasis to be put on officers wearing their seat belts.

“This is it, folks. If we can fix this, we can prevent deaths. There are cases this year, where someone would have survived had they had their seat belt on. There’s no question. While some of you might want to bristle at that, I’m telling you it’s a fact. I’ve seen it in other cases.”

Breul stressed that officers and law enforcement leadership have to get over the idea that it’s tactically unsafe to wear a seat belt. He says that he enjoys watching police reality TV shows like “On Patrol: Live” or “Live PD.” While watching the shows, he’s constantly looking to see if the officers are wearing their seat belts. While some of them are, many of them are not. “It’s inexplicable to me that in this day and age that we are still having an issue,” he says. “I thought we were making progress with the average at least going down a little bit. I know these are small numbers, but we’ve got to do better there. We just simply have to tackle this issue.”

Watch the NHTSA Traffic Safety Webinar: officer.com/55365552