Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, many Americans opted to simply stay home, and for the most part, non-essential workers wound up spending their days in home offices, too. This led to a vast reduction in traffic levels, though also, an increase in risky driving behaviors that caused U.S. traffic deaths to soar in 2020 and hit their highest levels since 2005 the next year, too. As things began to return to normal in 2022, U.S. traffic deaths did wind up declining that year, a trend that continued into the first half of 2023 as well. Now, according to preliminary estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. traffic fatalities decreased yet again in the entirety of 2023, too.
In its latest projections for 2023, the NHTSA estimates that 40,990 people died in motor vehicle crashes last year, which is around 3.6 percent fewer than the 42,514 fatalities the same country suffered in 2022, all while the fourth quarter of 2023 represented the seventh consecutive quarterly decline in fatalities beginning with the second quarter of 2022. Even more notably, this decrease comes as citizens drove more miles in 2023 versus 2022 as well.
In fact, the estimated fatality rate for 2023 decreased to 1.26 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, which is down from the reported rate of 1.33 per 100 million VMT in 2022. Estimates also show that VMT in 2023 increased by about 67.5 billion miles, which represented a 2.1 percent increase over 2022. Regardless, the NHTSA plans to continue to work to drive this number down in a number of ways, including via its new “Put the Phone Away or Pay” campaign that aims to bring awareness to the dangers of distracted driving.
“Distracted driving is extremely dangerous,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said. “Distraction comes in many forms, but it is also preventable. Our rebranded campaign reminds everyone to Put the Phone Away or Pay, because distracted driving can cost you in fines – or even cost your life or the life of someone else on the road.”
We’ll have more on traffic fatalities in the U.S. soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for around-the-clock Ford news coverage.
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