The first six months of 2021 have been the deadliest 6-month period on American roads in 15 years. Traffic deaths surged 18.4% in the first half of the year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Numbers haven’t been this high since 2006.
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The rise was most prominent in the West and Upper Midwest.
American driving habits got significantly worse during the nationwide lockdowns triggered by the COVID-19 crisis last year. Traffic deaths rose. Studies showed that more drivers were speeding. The number of drivers found wearing seat belts during traffic stops fell. Among drivers who suffered fatal accidents, the number with alcohol in their systems rose.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, those numbers may be growing even worse. Between March 2020 and June of 2021, speeding tickets and citations for traveling without a seat belt rose again. Both figures “remain higher than during pre-pandemic times.”
Americans are driving again – total miles driven in the first six months of 2021 were up 13% from 2020 numbers.
As travel restrictions have eased, we don’t seem to have grown more cautious. Traffic deaths grew more in the first six months of 2021 than in any other 6-month period since the federal transportation department began collecting crash death data in 1975.
