U.S. road fatalities will surge nearly 7% to 9,560 in the first three months of 2022, the largest number of deaths since 2002. That's a quarterly figure, the regulator said Wednesday in preliminary estimates.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), road fatalities have surged since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, U.S. road fatalities will rise 10.5% to 42,915, the most deaths on U.S. roads in a year since 2005.
The Biden administration has called this surge a "crisis."
Road deaths surged after the pandemic lockdown ended as more drivers took risks. Traffic fatalities in the first three months of 2022 are up 21% from her 7,893 for the same period in 2020.
"The overall numbers are still headed in the wrong direction," said outgoing NHTSA administrator Steve Cliff. statement. “Now is the time for all states to step up road safety.”
According to the Office of Highway Policy and Management, the increase in road deaths was due to the increase in road-distance traveled in the US in the first quarter. It outperformed the 5.6% increase.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) lamented the lack of government plans to address "this imminent crisis."
"We have witnessed a troubling lack of commitment to take action to stop the carnage occurring on our roads," MADD said in a statement Wednesday.
It called for a "back to basics of enforcing the law on dangerous driving behavior and prosecuting those choices to the fullest extent of the law." Last week, he announced that he was stepping down to stand for California's environmentalists. Safety groups sent a letter to the White House on Friday urging immediate action to find alternatives.
Governors' Highway Safety Association Director Jonathan Adkins said, "Unfortunately, the United States We are headed for the third consecutive year of sharp increases in traffic deaths."
In 2021, pedestrian fatalities increased by 13% to bring him to 7,342, the highest since 1981. The number of people killed on bicycles rose 5% to 985, he said, the highest since at least 1980, he said.
As US roads become less congested during the pandemic, some drivers are less likely to be ticketed by police, more likely to lead to risky behavior on the roads. recognized, experts said.
Incidents of speeding and traveling without seatbelts are more common than before the pandemic, according to NHTSA research.
The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association has urged Congress and her NHTSA to accelerate adoption of autonomous vehicles (AVs), citing rising fatalities. “AVs do not increase speed, impede driving, or create distractions,” said the group.
