Early data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates a continued decline in traffic fatalities across the United States.
Preliminary estimates for the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 2019 data on highway crashes indicates a small decline in deaths, following on from additional declines reported in 2018 and 2017.
A statistical projection of traffic fatalities last year estimates 36,120 people died in motor vehicle crashes, representing a decline of about 440 or 1.2 per cent from the reported 36,560 fatalities in 2018. This comes despite the fact that Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) increased by 0.9 per cent in 2019.
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Current estimates therefore indicate a fatality rate for 2019 of 1.10 fatalities per 100 million VMT, down from the 1.13 fatalities per 100 million VMT in 2018. If these figures are reflected in the final data, the fatality rate per 100 million VMT would be the second-lowest since the NHTSA started recording fatal crash data.
Fatalities were down on drivers by 3 per cent, passengers by 4 per cent, motorcyclists down 1 per cent, pedestrians down 2 per cent, and cyclists down 3 per cent.
Preliminary data suggests that the number of motor vehicle crash fatalities across 9 of the 10 regions in the U.S. analyzed by the NHTSA either remained stable or decreased. Just one region comprising the states of Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina recorded a slight increase of 2 per cent.
“Safety is our top priority so this report that traffic fatalities appear to have decreased again for the third year is great news,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao said in response to the data.
