NHTSA Releases Preliminary Findings on 2020 Q1 Traffic Deaths

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation that creates and maintains a tremendous amount of highway safety data for the federal government. Recently, the NHTSA has released its preliminary Q1 2020 traffic crash fatality projections.

Americans are driving less, but traffic fatalities have increased

Their early estimate report indicated that there were approximately 70 fewer traffic fatalities in Q1 of 2020 than there were in the first quarter of 2019 – which is less than a 1% difference. However, the NHTSA has projected a massive decrease in overall vehicle miles traveled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders. Americans drove an estimated 40 billion miles less in the first quarter this year versus last year – a 5.4% difference.

The amount of crash-related fatalities has decreased, but the fatality rate has gone up. While it’s not clear exactly what significance these early estimates have, the NHTSA has cited an increased percentage of speeding and reckless driving on more open roads as a possible factor contributing to the increase in the fatality rate. In Minnesota, one state highway safety official estimated that the state had half the traffic but double the fatalities from an average year.

This NHTSA report follows their findings from earlier this year that showed a significant decrease in 2019 traffic fatalities against 2018. However, deaths involving commercial trucks saw an increase over that same period.

What does this mean?

It will be interesting to see how useful data from the pandemic period will be. The fact is fewer people are on the road, and those that are driving are traveling far fewer miles. Memorial Day is the typical start of the summer holiday driving season. According to some estimates, America’s gas consumption during Memorial Day weekend was down by as much as 30% from the year before.

As highway safety advocates and personal injury lawyers, we are continually monitoring highway collision and fatality data, particularly those studies involving commercial truck traffic. We are hopeful that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s rollback of several safety regulations in light of the COVID-19 pandemic does not negatively impact these crash statistics when they are released this time next year.