More than 42,900 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year, the highest number since 2005, and a 10% surge from the year before, a government agency said on Tuesday.
The freeway is filled with evening traffic.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that traffic deaths increased in 44 states and the District of Columbia in the year 2021.
The department began collecting data on traffic deaths in 1975, and the increase in deaths is the largest since then.
Multi vehicle crashes, traffic deaths on urban roads, pedestrian deaths, and deaths among drivers 65 years and older all increased in 2021, according to the data.
Pete Buttigieg said in a statement that Americans are facing a crisis on the country's roads.
Puerto Rico saw a 39% increase in deaths from 2020 to 2021, larger than all states and D.C., followed by Idaho.
There are more than 370,000 people. According to the Department of Transportation, there were deaths in transportation incidents from 2011 to 2020.
The new figures come four months after the Department of Transportation unveiled a new National Roadway Safety Strategy to address what it called at the time an alarming rise in roadway deaths. After decades of a downward trend in traffic deaths, reckless driving behaviors such as speeding and riding without seatbelts began to rise in 2019. Americans drove more than 300 billion miles in 2021, up 11.2% from 2020. According to the Department of Transportation, traffic crashes are a leading cause of death among teenagers and disproportionately affect Blacks and Native Americans as well as those who live in rural communities.
The number of traffic deaths in the U.S. increased by 10.5% in 2011.
Road deaths in the U.S. rise at a record pace.
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