Report: Traffic fatalities from motor vehicle accidents increased by 7% in the first quarter

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s first-quarter traffic fatality estimates are in, and they’re not encouraging. Around 9,560 people died in motor vehicle accidents in the first three months of 2022, representing a 7 percent increase over last year’s data from the same quarter (there were 8,935 fatalities in the first quarter of 2021). 

 “We must not become desensitized to the tragedy of roadway deaths,” said Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association in a statement. “First quarter roadway fatalities have jumped 42 percent since 2011, and the death rate measured by vehicle miles traveled has risen 30 percent during that time. Tragically, the U.S. is on its way to a third straight year of surging roadway deaths.”

This year’s estimates also represents the highest number of first quarter traffic fatalities on record since 2002, according to a statistical summary of the data issued by the federal administration. And in correlation, the number of miles traveled this year has increased by 5.6 percent—a little more than 40 billion miles.

Regionally, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, Delaware, Maryland and Washington, D.C. saw the biggest spike in traffic fatalities—a 52 percent jump over last year. The New England states saw the second highest increase at 23 percent. Conversely, roadway deaths declined by 11 percent in California, Arizona and Hawaii. Nineteen individual states and Puerto Rico saw traffic deaths decline.

Nationally, however, it’s a trend that’s spiked recently. In the last decade, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that 350,000 people died on American Roadway. And the highway safety agency’s report notes “marked increases in fatalities and the fatality rate per million (vehicle miles traveled)” in 2020, at the pandemic’s onset, when roadways were suddenly free of their typical congestion.

In light of the concerning data, Dr. Steven Cliff, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s administrator, called on public officials to take action, noting an influx in federal spending that could allow investment in traffic safety initiatives.

“The overall numbers are still moving in the wrong direction. Now is the time for all states to double down on traffic safety. Through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, there are more resources than ever for research, interventions and effective messaging and programs that can reverse the deadly trend and save lives,” he said.

For public officials seeking a starting point to address roadway safety in their communities, Adkins pointed to the transportation department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy.

“Today’s awful news underscores the urgency of implementing this strategy and the need for strong and consistent leadership,” he said. The strategy “demands that all levels of government be bold and aggressive in making our roadways safer and a strong NHTSA can and should lead that charge.”

The strategy centers around five objectives: safer people, by encouraging responsible behavior; designing safer roads; building safer vehicles; promoting safer speeds; and enhancing the survivability of crashes by reducing emergency response time.

More information on the strategy can be found on the federal transportation department’s website.