Addressing America’s Traffic Safety Crisis – June 2022

Starting in 2020, as the nation grappled with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rate of U.S. vehicle travel decreased, the number and rate of traffic fatalities in the U.S. surged. This trend of increasing traffic fatalities continued in 2021 as vehicle travel returned to near pre-pandemic levels.

This report documents the increase in traffic fatalities and fatality rates from 2019 to 2021 at the national and state levels, examines possible causes for this increase, and prescribes a broad, comprehensive approach to reducing traffic fatalities in the U.S.

Video Interview with Traffic Safety Report Author