Benchmarking road safety of U.S. states: A DEA-based Malmquist productivity index approach

► In this paper, U.S. highway safety efficiency is studied considering 50 states. ► A DEA based Malmquist index model is developed. ► The relative efficiencies U.S. states in terms of road safety are analyzed. ► Results indicate that, more than half U.S. states are still not efficient in utilizing societal and economical resources towards the goal of zero crash.