U.S. Traffic Deaths Decline for Second Year in a Row

The National Safety Council just released its estimates for U.S. roadway fatalities in 2019, and there’s good news to share. Deaths declined for the second consecutive year. According to the NSC, traffic fatalities reached an estimated 38,800 last year, representing a 2-percent decline from 2018 and and a 4-percent decline against 2017.

While the NSC said the decline came “after several years of spikes,” we found the claim to be mildly misleading. Even though 2015 and 2016 posted meaningful increases in roadway deaths, safer streets have been in fashion since the 1970s. Most years since then have resulted in fewer crashes, with sporadic bad periods sprinkled throughout. If you’re interested in some supporting data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. roadway fatalities per 100,000 people averaged around 26.01 in 1972. That figure fell to just 10.28 by 2014, with the combined 2015-2016 increases bumping it up to just 11.59 per 100,000 people.

The general trend has been towards increased safety; clearly, we’ve come a long way over the past several decades. Still, it’s important to know which areas continue to cause problems so that they can be properly addressed. These occur over a much longer timeline and require additional information.

From the NSC:

Research to definitively determine why fatalities have decreased for the last two years is likely to lag several years. However, the NSC preliminary estimate signals that the country may be experiencing the benefits of several risk mitigation actions implemented in the last few years. For example, 10 cities have embraced Vision Zero models, which make streets safer by taking actions that include redesigning high-crash areas to reduce crash risk. Other proven measures include lowering the legal alcohol concentration limit. Utah’s implementation of a .05 legal limit has prompted other states to consider similar laws. Coalitions such as Road to Zero have raised the national dialogue.

And today, the majority of newly manufactured vehicles include advanced driver assistance systems, such as automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning systems, backup cameras and adaptive headlights, all of which are proven to reduce the severity of crashes or prevent them altogether.

We’re still uncertain about advanced driving aids, at least in their current state. While they definitely have the ability to save an inattentive motorist from having an accident in certain instances, they’re sometimes unreliable and research suggests they may actually make you a worse driver. One could also make the claim that many aids came into service during the same period we saw those abnormally high spikes in roadway fatalities, or suggest that the last two years (where safety did improve) wasn’t as robust as previous decades, where annual gains were often larger.

Our point is that, despite the praise surrounding driver assistance systems, few bother to go in and examine each feature independently. It was easier with seat belts, as there wasn’t nearly as many factors to account for. Individual assistance features really should be examined more closely before we presume they’ll save us.

Getting back to the big picture, the National Safety Council noted that preliminary estimates showed at least a 13-percent improvement in roadway deaths in Alaska, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota and Vermont. States that showed fatalities increasing by more than 5 percent included Delaware, Maine, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee and Wyoming. While the NSC did not presume the cause of the localized degradation in public safety, it noted spikes in pedestrians fatalities and said distracted driving remained a factor.

“Thirty-eight thousand deaths is still unacceptable, even if it is fewer than in years past,” said NSC President Lorraine M. Martin. “We are encouraged by the actions so many organizations are taking to reduce deaths, and we applaud legislation that curtails common crash causes such as impairment, distraction and speed. But as a nation, we still need to demonstrate better commitment to saving lives. Roadway deaths can be prevented by doubling down on what works, embracing technology advancements and creating a culture of safer driving.”

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