Following the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, traffic fatalities in the U.S. began to soar for a variety of reasons – mostly, because with less traffic on the roads, people began to engage in riskier behavior. This included speeding, driving without a seatbelt, and driving while distracted or intoxicated. However, that trend has thankfully begun to reverse course over the past year or so, and that was also the case in the first half of 2024.
According to the latest estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), traffic fatalities in the U.S. declined for the ninth straight quarter in H1 2024 – to an estimated 18,720 deaths cause by motor vehicle traffic crashes, which is around 3.2 percent fewer than the 19,330 traffic fatalities projected to have occurred in the first half of 2023. Additionally, traffic fatalities decreased in both Q1 and Q2 of 2024.
Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration also shows that total vehicle miles traveled in the first half of 2024 increased by about 13.1 billion, or around 0.8 percent higher than the same time period last year. This increase in miles driven and decrease in traffic deaths resulted in a rate of 1.17 fatalities per 100 million VMT (vehicle miles traveled), down from the projected rate of 1.21 fatalities per 100 million VMT in the first half of 2023.
“We’re encouraged that after spiking during the pandemic, traffic deaths are coming down,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman. “NHTSA continues to advance traffic safety with all the tools at our disposal, including rulemakings for lifesaving vehicle technologies and increased Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding for state highway safety offices.”
As Ford Authority previously reported, U.S. traffic fatalities decreased in 2023 as well – coming in at 40,990, which was around 3.6 percent fewer than the 42,514 fatalities the country suffered in 2022. In Q1 2024, that number also declined year-over-year by around 3.2 percent, from 8,935 in Q1 2023 to 8,650. Regardless, the NHTSA notes that there’s still much work to be done to drive these numbers down further, including simply motivating people to wear their seat belts, as half of all U.S. traffic fatalities that have occurred in recent years have been attributed to unbuckled occupants.
Comments
The other much greater factor affecting vehicle deaths is obvioudly speed. If everyone respected the speed laws in each State, deaths can drop over 50%.
Though I agree that speed is a definite factor, I doubt it is even close to 50% of the deaths. Distracted driving, texting, and drinking and driving are probably the next most common factors leading to crashes and deaths.