AASHTO Journal - NHTSA: Traffic Fatalities Declined in First Half of 2024

Initial estimates released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration indicate traffic fatalities declined over the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023, with the traffic fatalities now down for nine quarters in a row.

[Above photo by the Oregon DOT]

The agency said an estimated 18,720 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes over the first half of 2024, a decrease of about 3.2 percent as compared to 19,330 fatalities in the first half of 2023. NHTSA also estimated fatalities decreased in 31 states and Puerto Rico, remained unchanged in one state, and increased in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

Meanwhile, preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration indicates vehicle miles traveled or VMT in the first half of 2024 increased by about 13.1 billion miles, or roughly 0.8 percent more compared to the same time period in 2023. More miles driven combined with fewer traffic deaths resulted in a fatality rate of 1.17 fatalities per 100 million VMT, down from the rate of 1.21 fatalities per 100 million VMT in the first half of 2023.

“We’re encouraged that after spiking during the pandemic, traffic deaths are coming down,” Sophie Shulman, NHTSA’s deputy administrator, in a statement. “NHTSA continues to advance traffic safety with all the tools at our disposal, including rulemakings for lifesaving vehicle technologies and increased funding for state highway safety offices.”

[Editor’s note: The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials is holding its 2024 Safety Summit and Peer Exchange October 15-17 in Houston. To find out more about the summit’s agenda, click here. To register for the summit, click here.]

State departments of transportation across the country have been engaged in a number public outreach efforts to try and reduce traffic fatalities during 2024.

In mid-July, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte (R) and Troy Andersen – a Montana native who plays linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons – joined Chris Dorrington, the new director of the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), to help launch the agency’s latest traffic safety campaign, “Engage Montana.”

“While MDT can engineer safe roads through road design, we can’t always ensure that our loved ones make it home safely,” Gov. Gianforte said. “That’s what ‘Engage Montana’ is all about. This whole program is to encourage drivers to engage in better behavior, to be safer out there, so they can all get home or get wherever they’re going safely.”

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation recently held a “Safer Together – Summer Safety Event” that featured children’s activities, educational booths, and demonstrations to give attendees a first-hand look at the agency’s safety initiatives across all modes of transportation.

The event is part of Wisconsin DOT’s “Safety-First Initiative,” which brings together subject matter experts from across all of the agency’s divisions to share knowledge, best practices, and research in order to leverage new technologies for data gathering and engineering countermeasures.

“Safety is at the center of everything we do – whether it’s our officers enforcing traffic safety laws, our engineers implementing new technologies to design better roads, or our team educating Wisconsinites to prevent crashes and injuries,” explained Craig Thompson, Wisconsin DOT’s secretary and AASHTO president in a statement.

Concurrently, northeastern and southeastern state DOTs recently joined forces as part of regional anti-speeding and driver behavior improvement campaigns aimed at making broad improvements to road safety.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation joined their counterparts from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont to support the “Slow Down New England” initiative; an anti-speeding enforcement effort to raise awareness and change dangerous driver behavior.

“We are thankful for our regional partners for supporting our shared mission to raise awareness of the dangers of speeding to keep all New England residents safe,” said Garrett Eucalitto, commissioner for the Connecticut DOT and current vice president of AASHTO, in a statement.

The Florida Department of Transportation joined a similar campaign with multiple states in the southeast – Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and Tennessee – to reduce the number of speed-related crashes across the region and, ultimately, bring the number of traffic fatalities down to zero.

“Operation Southern Slow Down represents our collective vision towards creating a safer, fatality-free future on our roadways – one that goes beyond our engineering countermeasures and addresses the driver behaviors, like speeding, that place all road users at risk,” said Jared Perdue, Florida DOT secretary, in a statement.

“We are proud to partner with Florida’s law enforcement agencies, as well as our neighboring states, to remind motorists that their actions have real, life-changing consequences and that we all play a role in creating a safer driving environment for everyone,” he said.