Back in 2020, traffic fatalities in the U.S. soared amid the onset of the pandemic, even with fewer cars on the road. This was largely attributed to risky driving behaviors, and continued to increase to new highs in 2021 before declining in 2022 and 2023 as things have mostly returned to normal. Now, with the first quarter of 2024 in the rear-view, it seems as if that trend continued throughout the early months of this year, too.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), U.S. traffic fatalities declined yet again in Q1 2024, by around 3.2 percent, from 8,935 in Q1 2023 to 8,650 this year. This marks the eighth consecutive quarterly decline in traffic fatalities, a trend that began in the second quarter of 2022, even as the number of miles traveled increased by 0.6 percent between January and March. The estimated fatality rate for the first three months of 2024 also decreased to 1.13 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from the projected rate of 1.18 fatalities during the same period in 2023.
“We’re encouraged to see traffic fatalities continue to decline, but more work must be done to reduce these preventable tragedies on our roads,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman. “NHTSA is working diligently to save lives and ensure our roads are safe for everyone inside and outside of vehicles.”
Aside from things like risky and distracted driving, the NHTSA previously stated that around half of all U.S. traffic fatalities occur as a result of occupants not wearing their seat belts. In regards to The Blue Oval, we’ve seen some very different results in terms of which vehicles have the highest and lowest death rates among all models on the road, with the Ford Edge ranking near the bottom and the Ford Mustang coming in near the top.
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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