WASHINGTON — U.S. traffic deaths declined slightly in 2022, reversing a two-year trend of increases during the COVID-19 pandemic but continuing to remain a crisis, NHTSA said last week.
The agency estimated 42,795 people died in vehicle crashes on U.S. roads last year, down about 0.3 percent from the 42,939 fatalities reported for 2021.
NHTSA also projected that traffic deaths declined in the fourth quarter of 2022, marking the third straight quarterly decline in fatalities after seven consecutive quarters of increases that started in the third quarter of 2020.
The agency estimated 27 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico were projected to have decreases in fatalities in 2022 compared with 2021, while 23 states were projected to have increases.
For 2022, the estimated fatality rate fell slightly to 1.35 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled compared with 1.37 in 2021.
The small decline comes as Americans are driving more than they did during the height of the pandemic — a nearly 1 percent increase over 2021, NHTSA said. However, the number of deaths remains at concerning levels.
“We continue to face a national crisis of traffic deaths on our roadways, and everyone has a role to play in reversing the rise that we experienced in recent years,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement.
Through its National Roadway Safety Strategy, the department is “strengthening traffic safety across the country and working toward a day when these preventable tragedies are a thing of the past,” Buttigieg said.
The Governors Highway Safety Association said the traffic deaths were “heartbreaking, unacceptable and preventable.”
“We will not accept such incremental safety progress after two years of escalating deaths and more dangerous driving on U.S. roads,” the group said in a statement last week.
Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety also called on the Transportation Department to do more, such as completing key rule-makings that could prevent crashes.
“There is no time to waste,” said Cathy Chase, the group’s president. “We must stop the carnage on our roads and use every proven measure possible to prevent more deaths on U.S. highways, roadways and in neighborhoods.”
