2021 Traffic Deaths Hit Highest Level In Over 15 Years

Topline

More than 42,900 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year, the highest number since 2005, and a 10% surge from the year before, a government agency said on Tuesday, as traffic fatalities have continued to rise in recent years after several decades of a downward trend.

Key Facts

Traffic deaths in 2021 increased in 44 states as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, according to early estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, an agency within the Department of Transportation.

The 10% rise marks the largest annual increase in traffic deaths since the department began collecting data through its traffic fatality tracking system in 1975.

Multi vehicle crashes, traffic deaths on urban roads, pedestrian fatalities, and deaths among drivers 65 years and older all increased by more than 12% in 2021, according to the data.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement Americans are facing a “crisis” on the country’s roadways “that we must address together,” while NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator Steven Cliff called the problem “urgent and preventable.”

Surprising Fact

Puerto Rico saw a 39% increase in deaths from 2020 to 2021, larger than all states and D.C., followed by Idaho, which saw a 33% surge.

Big Number

More than 370,000 people. That’s how many died in transportation incidents from 2011 to 2020, according to the Department of Transportation.

Key Background

The new figures come four months after the Department of Transportation unveiled a new National Roadway Safety Strategy to address what it called at the time an “alarming rise” in roadway fatalities. Traffic deaths began to rise in 2019 due to a spike in reckless driving behaviors such as speeding and riding without seatbelts after decades of a downward trend in fatalities, according to the NHTSA. Americans also drove 325 billion more miles in 2021, up 11.2% from 2020. Traffic crashes are a leading cause of death among teenagers and disproportionately affect Blacks and Native Americans as well as those who live in rural communities, according to the Department of Transportation.

Further Reading

U.S. traffic deaths jump 10.5% in 2021 to highest number since 2005 (Reuters)

U.S. road deaths rise at record pace as risky pandemic-era driving persists (PBS)