On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration remains unchanged as it appears to be a proper noun. reported that its preliminary figures for traffic fatalities in 2024 indicate only 39,345 deaths were recorded in this category during the past year. This projection, derived from examining both monthly and regional traffic death statistics, indicates that 2024 marked the lowest number of road-related casualties in America since 2020.
Based on the figures from NHTSA, traffic deaths saw a significant rise during this period. the COVID-19 pandemic There have been significant rises in the figures for both 2020 and 2021, followed by a gradual decline every subsequent year starting from 2022. This year’s projection for 2024 indicates a decrease of 3.8% compared to 2023, where 40,901 deaths were recorded; however, this figure remains above pre-2020 levels overall.
The figures demonstrate that deaths decreased compared to the previous year in all months of 2024 with the exception of March. Data from different regions reveal that fatality rates dropped across most areas, excluding the Northeast; this particular area includes the so-called tri-state region. New York New Jersey and Pennsylvania experienced minimal changes in 2024, whereas New England witnessed a rise of 6% in fatalities.
The number of fatalities decreased significantly when measured against another crucial metric: the fatality rate per mile driven. According to NHTSA, this figure stood at approximately 1.2 deaths for every 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 2024, marking a decline from the peak of 1.38 recorded in 2021. This statistic had been relatively low throughout most of the previous decade as well, with the lowest point being around 1.08 fatalities per 100 million miles back in 2014.
The NHTSA’s historical records indicate that deaths have decreased each quarter since Q2 2022 compared to the previous year. However, this downward trend follows a significant rise during the pandemic era, specifically from Q3 2020 through Q1 2022, which was the most substantial increase in mortality rates observed since 1981. Prior to this period, fatalities rose sharply between 2014 and 2017 before declining once more until 2020.
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