US traffic deaths surge at record pace

U.S. traffic deaths surged at a record pace in 2021, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday.

The data showed that 31,720 people died from causes related to motor vehicles in the first nine months of 2021, a 12 percent increase from the number of deaths in the first nine months of 2020. The number of people who died in the first nine months of 2021 is also the highest since 2006. 

Thirty-eight states had an increase in fatalities in 2021, while two states were flat and 10 states, plus Washington, D.C., saw a decrease in car fatalities. 

The percentage increase from 2020 to 2021 is the highest yearly increase in car fatalities since the federal government began collecting data on the issue.  

“People make mistakes, but human mistakes don’t always have to be lethal. In a well-designed system, safety measures make sure that human fallibility does not lead to human fatalities,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an announcement about the data.

“That’s what we will be doing for America’s roads with the National Roadway Safety Strategy and the safe system approach that it embraces,” he added.

The numbers come a week after the Transportation Department announced the National Roadway Safety Strategy, aimed at making roadways safer and reducing deaths.