The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its 2020 annual traffic crash data report this week, which revealed a slight 6.8 percent uptick in the frequency of fatal car crashes.
“While the number of crashes and traffic injuries declined overall, fatal crashes increased by 6.8 percent,” the federal safety watchdog said. “The fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled increased to 1.34, a 21 percent increase from 2019 and the highest since 2007.”
In 45 percent of all fatal car crashes, the drivers of the involved vehicles were engaged in one or multiple “risky behaviors,” the safety agency said, including speeding, alcohol impairment, or not wearing a seat belt. Fatalities in speeding-related car crashes were up 17 percent, while fatalities in alcohol-related and unrestrained occupant-related crashes were up 14 percent.
Bicyclist fatalities were up a whopping 9.2 percent, as well, rising to their highest point since 1987, while motorcyclist fatalities rose 11 percent to their highest point since federal crash data collection first began in 1975. Additionally, fatalities in hit-and-run crashes were up 26 percent, pedestrian fatalities were up 3.9 percent and fatalities in urban areas were up 8.5 percent.
This increase in traffic-related crash fatalities comes amid a sharp 22 percent downturn in police-reported crashes between 2019 and 2020. So while the number of traffic-related crashes is dwindling, the chance of being involved in a fatal accident on the road is on the rise. It’s also worth noting that traffic fatalities rose despite the fact that total vehicle miles travelled by Americans decreased by 11 percent in 2020, falling from 3,261,772 miles to 2,903,622 miles.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg described the recently published statistics as a “national crisis.”
“People should leave the house and know they’re going to get to their destination safely, and with the resources from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, plus the policies in the National Roadway Safety Strategy we launched last month, we will do everything we can to save lives on America’s roads,” Buttigieg said in a prepared statement.
“While overall traffic crashes and people injured were down in 2020, fatal crashes and fatalities increased,” added NHTSA Deputy Administrator Dr. Steven Cliff. “We cannot allow this to become the status quo.”
GM has committed to reducing road traffic deaths in the years ahead through its autonomous driving technology, which is still in development.
“With human error still the leading cause of crashes, ultimately self-driving cars can help save many of the 1.25 million people around the world who are killed in crashes every year,” the automaker said in a press release published in 2018.
Subscribe to GM Authority for more GM-related NHTSA news and around-the-clock GM news coverage.
Comments
thought to be an ukraine pic when first saw first pic
Filling up the cemetery is as American as Apple pie.
All the safety tech & crap means nothing when people are driving way to fast & playing with their screens/phones.
It’s the increase in street racing due to defund the police. The crashes we do have are all at 100+mph through a light pole
A lot of crashes go unreported , there are so many unlicensed drivers on our city streets it is alarming , no license , insurance or respect for the law .
Many of those unlicensed drivers are illegal immigrants, many have their licenses pulled but drive anyway. I know many people that have been in accidents involving immigrants, no insurance, no job, no reason to be in this country.
Culling them off seems to be the only solution.
Calling the police doesn’t do crap anymore in this country.
100% we have to cull the cops.
You would probably let the monkeys 🙈 run the zoo.
Seems a lot of this is distracted driving, and they keep touting bigger and better driver information displays. Think there could be a connection ? Wait until the regulators figure it out.
I taught my young drivers an important rule to follow: Do not hit anything. We really worked on and focused on that
part first, Then we moved onto how to avoid being hit. All of us (all the kids) ride motorcycles street and dirt.
When you drive a street motorcycle you become aware of how easy it is to die. Get in a car, keep that same attitude.
It is easy to die.
Live long, have fun.
I ride my Harley and drive my Vette with the same attentive attitude. Expecting the worse. Rejoicing when I reach my intended destination without incident.
It’s all about lack of total attention and focus on the road and traffic in front, on the sides and in the rear. Not on consuming foods and beverages purchased from a bazillion drive up windows now. Playing with the infotainment screen in the front dash. Chatting and texting on the smart phone. Talking on the Blue tooth while driving. All this leads to distracted driving and fatalities.
It’s the phones I notice the most. I swear on the drive to work I notice more folks on phones than not on phones. All looking down at their laps texting.
It’s not even just kids anymore either! I saw a dude clearly in his mid-late 60s the other day swerving lanes trying to text and drive!
Police are not enforcing the speed limit.
Dan: You got that right. I drive state highway 227 in Northern Nevada each day. It has posted speed limits throughout at 50 mph. Vehicles are constantly passing me at 70+ mph. No enforcement. Even with fuel prices at record levels, no slow down deterent. Lots of full size, gasoline and diesel 3/4 and 1 ton pickup trucks here.