What’s Causing the Surge in US Traffic Deaths?

Traffic fatalities involving cyclists and pedestrians are soaring in the US
Credit: Andrew Lozovyi

As COVID swept America in 2020, it wasn’t the only factor contributing to a rising death toll. Traffic deaths have also risen dramatically in the past three years in the United States.

This is a fairly shocking fact considering the steady advances we’ve made in vehicle safety features.

Traffic Deaths Have Taken a Turn for the Worse

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration  there were 38,824 traffic fatalities in 2020. In 2021, there were 42,915. That’s a staggering increase of 10.5%.

You might be thinking, that’s because there were fewer people driving in 2020 due to COVID. That may be true, but that hasn’t affected the traffic death statistics.

Traffic deaths actually rose from 2019 to 2020 as well. In fact, the United States was one of only three wealthy countries to see an increase in traffic deaths in 2020.

The U.S. had more traffic deaths in 2020, despite driving less.
Source:The New York Times

From 2019 to 2021, traffic deaths increased by 18%. That’s the largest two-year increase since 1946.

So what, exactly, is happening?

Why Are These Fatalities Increasing? 

Cars have steadily gotten safer, so why are traffic deaths increasing? According to the New York Times, it’s not the people inside the cars so much as the people outside of them who are getting killed. Pedestrians, cyclists, and passers-by are not protected in the U.S. like they are in other countries.

Yonah Freemark, a researcher at the Urban Institute, told the NYT:

“Other countries started to take seriously pedestrian and cyclist injuries in the 2000s — and started making that a priority in both vehicle design and street design — in a way that has never been committed to in the United States.”

NHTSA research shows a 13% increase in pedestrian deaths from 2020 to 2021. One of the factors driving this increase is the type of vehicles we’re using.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), vehicle weight and horsepower are at all-time highs.

Cathy Chase, president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, told CNBC:

“The bigger the vehicle, the heavier they (vehicles) are, the more deadly they are during a crash, especially with vulnerable road users like pedestrians and bicyclists. The trend to drive bigger, heavier trucks is to the detriment of everyone outside of the vehicle.”

And vehicle horsepower has grown even more, rising almost 80% since 1975.

Vehicle horsepower has soared since 1975.
Source: EPA

Can We Do Anything About Rising Traffic Deaths? 

There are a few initiatives in the U.S. aiming to lower traffic deaths. One of them is called Vision Zero. Vision Zero was first implemented in Sweden in the 1990s, and its website states that it has produced successful results all across Europe.

According to Vision Zero, these are some ways we can shift to a safer driving experience:

• Lower speeds where people walking and biking mix with motor vehicles;
• Investing in traffic calming features, such as roundabouts and speed humps;
• Incentivizing transit and smaller vehicles over menacing, tank-sized personal vehicles.

The task won’t be easy. Caron Whitaker, deputy executive director at the League of American Bicyclists, told the NYT that she doesn’t have a lot of hope:

“We know what the problem is, we know what the solution is. We just don’t have the political will to do it.”

All major shifts take time and persistence. If you want to take part in the fight against traffic deaths, you can get involved today.