Trucking news and briefs for Friday, Oct. 29, 2021:
An estimated 20,160 people died in motor vehicle crashes in the first half of 2021, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data released this week. That is the highest number of traffic fatalities in the first half of a year since 2006, NHTSA noted.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the number of highway deaths “is a crisis,” and announced a new initiative within DOT to identify ways to reduce fatalities.
“This is a crisis. More than 20,000 people died on U.S. roads in the first six months of 2021, leaving countless loved ones behind. We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America,” Buttigieg said. “Today we are announcing that we will produce the Department’s first ever National Roadway Safety Strategy to identify action steps for everyone working to save lives on the road. No one will accomplish this alone. It will take all levels of government, industries, advocates, engineers, and communities across the country working together toward the day when family members no longer have to say goodbye to loved ones because of a traffic crash.”
NHTSA’s data also shows that the estimated 11,225 fatalities during the second quarter of 2021 represents the highest Q2 fatalities since 1990.
Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration show that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the first half of 2021 increased by about 173.1 billion miles, or about a 13% increase as compared to the first half of 2020.
The fatality rate for the first half of 2021 increased to 1.34 fatalities per 100 million VMT, up from the projected rate of 1.28 fatalities per 100 million VMT in the first half of 2020.
