U.S. traffic deaths soared by 18.4% in the first six months of 2021 from the same period a year earlier, for the most deadly first half on American roads since 2006, the Transportation Department said on Thursday. Traffic deaths surged after coronavirus lockdowns ended in 2020 as more drivers engaged in unsafe behavior like speeding, regulators said.
It was the largest six-month increase ever recorded in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System’s history, which has been in use since 1975, the agency said. The National Highway Traffic Safety (NHTSA) estimated 20,160 people died car crashes in the first six months of 2021 in the United States, up 3,140 over the same period in 2020.
“This is a crisis,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America.” NHTSA released behavioral research findings from March 2020 through June 2021 “indicating that incidents of speeding and traveling without a seatbelt remain higher than during pre-pandemic times.”
Read the article at Autoblog.
