US traffic deaths a ‘national crisis,’ despite dropping slightly in 2022, Buttigieg says

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that traffic deaths remain a “national crisis” across America, despite dropping slightly in the latest projections issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

The NHTSA is projecting that 42,795 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year, a decrease of about 0.3% compared to the 42,939 fatalities documented in 2021. A decade ago in 2013, there were 32,893 fatalities, according to NHTSA data. 

“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,” Buttigieg said in a statement. “Through our National Roadway Safety Strategy, we’re strengthening traffic safety across the country, and working toward a day when these preventable tragedies are a thing of the past.”  

The NHTSA said Thursday that “27 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are projected to have had decreases in fatalities in 2022 as compared to 2021, while 23 States are projected to have experienced increases.” 

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Thursday that the U.S. continues to face a “national crisis” regarding the number of traffic deaths on its roads. (Pool / Fox News)

“The estimated fatality rate decreased to 1.35 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2022, down from 1.37 fatalities per 100 million VMT in 2021,” it also said. “Americans are driving more than they did during the height of the pandemic, almost a 1% increase over 2021.” 

Earlier in April, the NHTSA released a new analysis of 2021 federal crash data, which revealed that fatalities in crashes caused by distracted driving “increased by 12% from 3,154 in 2020 to 3,522 in 2021, a total of 8.2% of all fatalities reported.” 

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Heavy afternoon traffic is seen in Los Angeles, California, in November 2022. The number of traffic deaths last year declined slightly from 2021, the NHTSA says. (Getty Images)

“A distraction-affected crash is any crash where a driver was identified as distracted at the time of the crash,” the NHTSA said at the time. “Even with these high numbers, distraction is likely underreported because the behavior is difficult to detect during crash investigations, and police reports likely understate its incidence.” 

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In January, the U.S. Department of Transportation unveiled a new National Roadway Safety Strategy as part of its effort to reduce the number of fatalities and injuries. 

Ten years ago, the number of traffic deaths in the U.S. was about 10,000 less than the NHTSA’s estimates for 2022. ((Photo by Stephen Chernin/Getty Images) / Getty Images)

Its actions include “[l]everaging technology to improve the safety of motor vehicles on our roadways, including rulemaking on automatic emergency braking and pedestrian automatic emergency braking” and “Investing in road safety through funding in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including a new $6 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All program, hundreds of millions for behavioral research and interventions, and $4 billion in additional funding for the Highway Safety Improvement Program.”