In November, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its statistics on highway safety in the US for the first half of 2024 (full year statistics won’t be available until many months from now).
In the first half of 2024, there was a decrease in traffic fatalities, continuing a trend that has been ongoing for over 2 years. This is great news, especially compared to trends from the last decade, which were often pointing in the opposite direction.
Of particular importance, the most often preventable deaths, such as those related to unrestrained passengers and accidents involving speeding related crashes, were reduced in the first half of 2024. Pedestrian fatalities, and rollover crash rates were also down in the first half of 2024, but it looks like there were decreases in the number of fatalities in almost all accident categories.
All in all, compared to the first half of 2023, American automobile deaths were down 3.2% in the first half of 2024.
If you compare this to the data for 2016, for example, you can see clearly that significant improvements have been made over the past decade. In 2016, the statistics for almost all types of accident fatalities were increasing over time. Those results revealed a staggering 5.6% increase in the number of traffic fatalities between 2015 and 2016, bringing the number to just over 37,000 deaths. The 2016 report revealed an increase in the number of alcohol-related deaths, as well as an increase in the number of speed related traffic fatalities. Even as recently as 2021, the trend for fatalities on US roadways was headed in the wrong direction.
Why the Decrease?
In 2021, the NHTSA instituted a collection of new safety initiatives which have been largely credited with the downward trend in traffic fatalities in the US – the goal is an ambitious one of ultimately reaching a level of 0 traffic fatalities in the US. The programs included in these new safety strategies contain millions of dollars in grants which have allowed communities to take action in order to improve the safety of their roads. There have been efforts to improve pedestrian safety, driver safety, and vehicular safety. There are new safety initiatives being put in place that should increase passenger safety in other areas, as well, such as a new requirement for passenger cars and light trucks to come equipped with automatic emergency braking systems by 2029. New requirements such as these should help these improving trends in automobile safety to continue into the future.
These new strategies and initiatives build off of previous ones, such as those aimed at reducing the rate of fatalities resulting from distracted driving. Even in the last decade, efforts aimed at reducing the number of traffic fatalities attributed to distracted driving began to be successful, with documented decreases in 2016. In addition, the number of fatalities attributed to drivers who fell asleep at the wheel also decreased in 2016 – so some of these long-standing efforts also continue to help to improve the situation on America’s highways.
How Can Individual Drivers Improve the Situation on America’s Roads?
Reducing the number of automobile fatalities in America begins with personal responsibility. Each driver has to make a choice to be fit, ready, and focused to hit the road, every time they get behind the wheel. The three most significant choices drivers can make to safeguard themselves and others are to 1) wear their seatbelt; 2) never drive under the influence of substances; 3) obey posted speed limits. These three choices alone can reduce the number of deaths due to auto accidents significantly. Can you commit to these simple principles of safety?
Although these statistics are headed in the right direction, that doesn’t mean that we’ve yet reached the goal of completely eliminating injuries and deaths from automobile accidents in the US. If you haven’t been as lucky, and you have suffered injuries in an automobile accident due to someone else’s recklessness or negligence, we can help. Call us, or your local car crash injury lawyer, to find out more about your rights and how you can protect yourself.