Traffic crash statistics are moving in the wrong direction, as evidenced by recent reports from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). In the NHTSA’s statistical summary, “Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the First Quarter of 2022”, 9,560 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first quarter of 2022: a 7% increase in death rate over the same period in 2021 (8,935 fatalities). This is the highest percentage increase of motor vehicle fatalities over a comparative quarterly period in twenty years.
These findings come just months after the NHTSA released its estimate of traffic fatalities for all of 2021, projecting the highest number of fatalities since 2005 and the largest annual percentage increase in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System’s history. An estimated 42,915 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2021, representing a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 fatalities in 2020.
The alarming increase in fatal crashes begs the question of why… and what can be done to stem the tide of fatal car crashes. Pandemic fueled risky driving may be to blame, as years 2019-2021 saw a dramatic increase in speeding and drunk driving. The risky driving behaviors were “exacerbated during (COVID-19), and they seem to have this hangover effect that’s now occurring,” noted David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Why are people driving more recklessly?
A 2020 survey from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found that people who drove more than usual during the pandemic were more likely to engage in riskier behaviors, including reading text messages, speeding, running red lights on purpose, aggressively changing lanes, not wearing seat belts or driving after having drinking alcohol or smoking weed. In 2020, deaths from speeding-related crashes increased by 17% and deaths from alcohol-impaired driving rose by 14% compared to 2019.
How many people die from texting and driving each year?
Texting and driving is one of the riskiest behaviors drivers can engage in behind the wheel. When you send or read a text, you may only take your eyes off of the road for a few seconds. But according to the NHTSA, five distracted seconds at a speed of 55 mph is the same as driving an entire length of a football field with your eyes shut. About 400 fatal crashes happen each year as a direct result of texting and driving. That number doesn’t account for the tens of thousands of non-fatal but serious injuries resulting from texting and driving.
Is speeding to blame for the uptick in traffic fatalities?
In the early stages of COVID-19, employers had no choice but to allow work from home. Employees no longer had to commute to the office, sit in traffic or rush in to punch a clock. But this also meant basically “open highways” for the lone drivers on the road. Long straightaways and expanses with few other commuters may have tempted drivers to go faster, experts said.
The lack of law enforcement on the road, due to COVID safety worries, also contributed to speeding. “There was this concern of not pulling people over, not engaging with individuals during the pandemic,” Harkey said. In a subsequent survey of 1000 police officers and deputies, nearly 60% of officers said they were less likely to stop vehicles than they were before 2020. Drivers were less worried about police speed traps, radar guns and pricey tickets.
Today, in 2022, police departments across the U.S. have resumed their enforcement to pre-pandemic levels, but drivers may have the lingering belief that they can speed and get away with it. Trying to dispel that belief is the NHTSA, which launched a public education campaign. The Speeding Wrecks Lives campaign seeks to change public attitudes about speeding by reminding drivers of the deadly consequences that can occur from dangerous driving.
How many traffic fatalities are due to drunk driving?
In 2020 there were 11,654 people killed in drunk driving crashes, an average of 1 alcohol-impaired driving fatality every 45 minutes. These drunk driving fatalities accounted for 30% of all motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States in 2020. The results are equally sobering in 2021 and early 2022. In fact, every day about 32 people in the U.S. die in drunk-driving crashes, and the issue persists in a post-COVID world.
As a result, the NHTSA re-launched Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, a high visibility enforcement campaign aimed at preventing impaired driving and improving safety. The U.S. government’s bipartisan infrastructure law also included mandates for technology that could address some of the biggest causes of fatalities, such as calling for NHTSA to require breath monitoring devices for alcohol in new cars. Such a system is in testing, but a mandate is likely years away.
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As the NHTSA continues to finalize data on crash fatalities for 2021 and 2022, we will monitor the trends and report accordingly. We have been at the forefront of the auto safety industry for years, having witnessed the devastating impact of reckless driving… made only worse by the pandemic. If you have been injured in a motor vehicle crash, please feel free to contact The Law Offices of Peter M. Anderson for a consultation. We are available via e-mail or call 303-444-1505.