The preliminary data, released Thursday by the National Safety Council, show as many as 42,060 people died in motor vehicle crashes last year, including pedestrians, up 8% from 2019. The increase has confounded roadway-safety experts who hoped reduced driving might create a silver lining during a global health crisis. They believe riskier driving, including speeding on less-packed roadways, was a key reason this benefit never materialized.
“We saw this uptick here in people driving at higher speeds and it had the tragic consequences we’re now seeing here in the data,” David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said in an interview.
The crash data is another example of the pandemic’s potential collateral damage. Excess deaths, or deaths above averages from recent years, are significantly higher than the number of deaths national health authorities have directly blamed on Covid-19. Researchers believe this is due to a mix of Covid-19 deaths not properly captured by government statistics but also other problems like people who died while avoiding hospitals during medical emergencies.
The IIHS and two other groups, the Governors Highway Safety Association and the National Road Safety Foundation, said Thursday they are teaming up to fund pilot projects in Virginia and Maryland aimed at reducing speeding.
The safety council estimated the miles driven in the U.S. dropped by 13% last year. Taking that into account, the group said its preliminary estimate shows the rate of road deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled rose 24% on the year to 1.49, the biggest increase they have measured since 1924.
Official U.S. traffic data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration hasn’t been reported for the full year. Preliminary federal figures found a troubling rise in the rate of deaths based on vehicle miles traveled in the first half of this year, though the actual number of road deaths declined slightly, the NHTSA said.
The safety council measures traffic deaths differently than the NHTSA, including measuring deaths up to a year after a crash, rather than the government’s 30-day cutoff, the nonprofit said.
By contrast, in Italy, another country hard-hit by Covid-19 deaths, preliminary estimates showed a sharp decrease in roadway deaths between January and September last year.
“It is tragic that in the U.S., we took cars off the roads and didn’t reap any safety benefits,” Lorraine M. Martin, the safety council’s chief executive, said in a release. They estimated that the 2020 death toll rose by more than 15% in seven states and Washington, D.C., and that only nine states saw fewer deaths.
Connecticut’s transportation department said preliminarily data show 310 crash deaths in 2020, a 24% increase. Like most of the nation, Connecticut has seen more reckless, dangerous and irresponsible driving, a department spokesman said. The state agency is backing bills in the legislature aimed at expanding seat belt requirements and improving pedestrian safety, he said.
The safety council called for a variety of measures, including mandatory breath-test ignition devices for convicted drunken drivers, lower speed limits and laws banning all cellphone use for drivers, including hands-free use.