Here are excerpts from a recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released its latest projections for traffic fatalities in 2022, estimating that 31,785 people died in traffic crashes in the first nine months of the year. This is a 0.2% decrease as compared to the 31,850 estimated fatalities during the same time in 2021.
Americans continue to drive more than during the height of the pandemic, with preliminary Federal Highway Administration data showing a 1.6% increase in vehicle miles traveled, or about 39 billion miles. As a result, the estimated fatality rate for the first nine months of 2022 decreased to 1.30 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from the projected rate of 1.32 fatalities during the same time in 2021.
NHTSA projects that fatalities declined slightly in the third quarter of 2022, making this the second straight quarterly decline in fatalities after seven consecutive quarters of year-to-year increases in fatalities. Those increases began in the third quarter of 2020.
While fatalities overall declined, fatalities amongst cyclists and pedestrians continued to rise.
As compared to the first half of 2021, fatalities decreased:
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- 10% in children younger than 16
- 10% on urban collector and local roads
- 9% in vehicle rollover crashes
- 8% in people ages 16 to 24
- 7% in crashes involving passengers ejected from a vehicle
- 7% in unbelted people in passenger vehicles
- 2% in speeding-related crashes
As compared to the first half of 2021, fatalities increased:
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- 12% on rural interstates
- 10% in crashes involving at least one large truck
- 8% among cyclists
- 5% among motorcyclists
- 2% among pedestrians
