Preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council have found that traffic deaths in 2022 are estimated to rise to 46,000. That’s a particularly alarming statistic because the Americans are still driving less than they were pre-pandemic.
As compared to 2019, the last full year before lockdowns started in the U.S., the rate of deaths per mile driven on U.S. roads rose by 22 percent, NSC estimates found.
“From drivers and passengers to pedestrians and cyclists, road users of all ages are perishing in preventable crashes in the United States,” said Lorraine Martin, NSC president and CEO. “We must change the way we think about designing and moving around in our communities, understanding that people will make mistakes and the cost of those mistakes should not be serious injury or death.”
Although the NSC is not a government office, it sources its data from the National Center for Health Statistics, which is an arm of the Centers for Disease Control. It also takes into account deaths that happen within one year of a crash, and on private roadways (that is, parking lots and driveways), meaning that its figures may differ from the government’s.
According to the NSC, though, 10 states experiences increases in fatalities of more than 14 percent. Among them, Alaska was the worst, with deaths rising by 27 percent. It was followed by Hawaii (+24%), Wyoming (+20%), Maine (+20%), New Hampshire (+19%), Delaware (+19%), Connecticut (+17%), Nebraska (+16%), Washington (+14%) and Indiana (+14%).
It wasn’t all bad news, though. Eight states saw traffic fatalities fall by 10 percent or more. They were Oklahoma (-25%), Idaho (-19%), Rhode Island (-17%), District of Columbia (-15%), West Virginia (-15%), Montana (- 14%), Minnesota (-12%), South Dakota (-12%) and Arizona (-10%).
The silver lining is that, according to NSC estimates, traffic fatalities stayed pretty much stagnant as compared to 2021, when it reported that 46,020 people passed away on America’s roads. That tracks with early estimates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, whose full year data is expected to be released this spring.
