The year 2021, along with being yet another doozy of a year because of the prevailing pandemic, also had more to show. Quarantining at home did not necessarily make the roads safer. Recent studies show that traffic-related noise pollution is on the rise, simply because people who are stuck at home are finding other like-minded people who love to drag race on mainstream roads at night.
And now the NHTSA has more bad news, as it has released traffic fatality estimates for the first nine months of 2021. Tragically, this shows an increase in the traffic fatality estimates from the first nine months of 2020.
NHTSA Shows a 12-Percent Increase In Traffic Fatalities
The year 2021, along with being yet another doozy of a year because of the prevailing pandemic, also had more to show. Quarantining at home did not necessarily make the roads safer. Recent studies show that traffic-related noise pollution is on the rise, simply because people who are stuck at home are finding other like-minded people who love to drag race on mainstream roads at night.
And now the NHTSA has more bad news, as it has released traffic fatality estimates for the first nine months of 2021. Tragically, this shows an increase in the traffic fatality estimates from the first nine months of 2020.
According to a press release from NHTSA, estimates suggest that 31,720 people died in motor traffic crashes from January to September 2021, as opposed to the 28,325 fatalities in the same months of 2021. This shows a 12% increase and sadly, 2021 also shows the highest number of fatalities in the first nine months of any year, since 2006.
The stats came only days after the U.S. Department of Transportation decided to actively take steps to reduce such incidents by releasing the federal government’s first-ever National Roadway Safety Strategy. This is likely to be a roadmap defining steps to reduce roadway fatalities and serious injuries in the U.S.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Calls It A National Crisis
Buttigieg gave a statement, saying, “This is a national crisis. We cannot and must not accept these deaths as an inevitable part of everyday life.”
He continued saying that thankfully now, they had a strategy, “as well as the resources and programs to deliver it, thanks to the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The National Roadway Safety Strategy is America’s first-ever national, comprehensive plan to significantly reduce deaths and injuries on our roads.”
Of course, it’s also interesting to note that along with an increase in traffic fatalities, the vehicular miles traveled in the first nine months of 2021 has also increased by 244 billion miles, which is an 11.7% increase from the same months of 2020.
A clear strategy to reduce serious traffic accidents, as well as the injuries and fatalities arising from it, is a welcome move for all, especially in the 38 states they have increased in. Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator added, “we have to change a culture that accepts as inevitable the loss of tens of thousands of people in traffic crashes. This will require a transformational and collaborative approach to safety on our nation’s roads.”
Source: NHTSA