Traffic fatalities declined during the first half of 2024, according to a preliminary estimate released last week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Overall, the NHTSA estimates show a decline in traffic fatalities for nine straight quarters.
Fatalities decreased in key areas, including pedestrian and speeding-related crashes, rollover crashes, and crashes involving unbuckled occupants of vehicles.
“We are encouraged by the declines estimated in these key categories but know we still have more work to do to make our roads safer for everyone,” said Sophie Shulman, NHTSA’s deputy administrator. “We will use every tool we have to save lives, reduce injuries and prevent risky driving behaviors.”
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) launched the National Roadway Safety Strategy, a roadmap to address the national crisis in traffic fatalities and serious injuries on America’s highways, roads and streets.
The NRSS is complemented by funding through the Biden-Harris administration’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including the Safe Streets and Roads for All program. On Nov. 15, the USDOT announced the final round of 2024 awards, with an additional $172 million in grants to 257 communities.
According to the NHTSA, the Safe Streets and Roads for All program has funded projects in more than 1,600 communities, supporting roadway safety for around 75% of the U.S. population since 2022.
As compared to the first half of 2023, fatalities in key subcategories in 2024 decreased:
- 12% during out-of-state travel
- 9% in ejected passengers
- 8% on urban interstates
- 7% in passenger vehicle occupants less than 10 years old
- 7% in unrestrained occupants of passenger vehicles
- 7% in passengers
- 6% in passenger vehicle rollover crashes
- 6% in passenger vehicle occupants
- 6% in speeding-related crashes
- 5% in rural or urban collector roads/local roads
- 5% involving roadway departure crashes
- 4% at night
- 4% during weekends
- 3% in pedestrians
In September, NHTSA released early estimates of motor vehicle traffic fatalities for the first half of 2024, estimating that traffic fatalities declined by 3.2% compared to the same period in 2023, with the second quarter of 2024 marking the ninth straight quarter of declining fatalities. The report showed an estimated fatality rate of 1.17 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the first half of 2024, down from the projected rate of 1.21 fatalities per 100 million VMT in the first half of 2023.
Linda Garner-Bunch has been in publishing for more than 30 years. You name it, Linda has written about it. She has served as an editor for a group of national do-it-yourself publications and has coordinated the real estate section of Arkansas’ only statewide newspaper, in addition to working on a variety of niche publications ranging from bridal magazines to high-school sports previews and everything in between. She is also an experienced photographer and copy editor who enjoys telling the stories of the “Knights of the Highway,” as she calls our nation’s truck drivers.
