Traffic deaths in US on the rise in 2022

Increase in speeding, impaired driving and reckless behaviour blamed for rise in road fatalities

Roadway deaths rose 7 per cent during the first three months of the year. AP

US traffic fatalities began to climb two years ago and that deadly trend is continuing in 2022.

Roadway deaths rose 7 per cent during the first three months of the year to 9,560, the highest number for a first quarter in two decades, estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed.

Traffic deaths have risen ever since pandemic lockdowns eased in 2020, as people returned to work and started taking more road trips.

People drove about 65 billion more kilometres in the first quarter than a year earlier, a 5.6 per cent increase, the agency said.

But the rate of traffic deaths per 160 million kilometres travelled also increased during the quarter, from 1.25 deaths, to 1.27, it added.

Before 2020, the number of fatalities had fallen for three consecutive years.

The government has blamed the increase on speeding, impaired driving and other reckless behaviour, and it has pledged to fund investments in speed enforcement and to build safer roads.

“The overall numbers are still moving in the wrong direction,” agency administrator Steven Cliff said in a prepared statement. “Now is the time for all states to double down on traffic safety.”

Pictures of the mangled wreckage of a lime-green Lamborghini, a damaged red Ferrari and other high-performance cars in a tunnel in the Chinese capital emerged online following Saturday’s crash

Police said the drivers of the Ferrari and Lamborghini were jobless.

Chinese Suba Weibo commentators mocked the incident: “Socialism is so good that it allows unemployed people to drive supercars,” one said.

The crash happened on the same night as the seventh stunt-filled Fast and Furious movie opened in China.

Beijing police earlier drew derision online for referring to the cars involved as green and red “small passenger-carrying vehicles”.

The agency has started running advertisements urging people to slow down and not to drive while impaired. On Wednesday, it announced the annual national impaired driving enforcement programme with local police for the weeks around the Labour Day holiday.

About 43,000 people were killed on US roads last year, the highest number in 16 years.

Traffic deaths rose 10.5 per cent last year over 2020, the largest percentage increase since agency began its fatality data collection in 1975. It will release final numbers for 2021 in the autumn.

NHTSA's fatality estimates are usually close to the actual numbers.

Mr Cliff, who was confirmed by the Senate to run the agency three months ago, is leaving his position next month to run the California Air Resources Board, which regulates pollution. Chief Counsel Ann Carlson will run the agency until a new administrator is nominated.

Hundreds of motorists were stranded all night in snow and freezing temperatures along an 80-kilometre stretch of Interstate 95 after a crash involving six tractor-trailers near Fredericksburg, Virginia, outside of Washington. WJLA / AP

Vehicles are stranded on an icy stretch of Interstate 95 after a storm blanketed the eastern US with snow. Photo: Virginia Department of Transport

Hundreds of motorists were stranded all night near Fredericksburg, Virginia, where authorities are struggling to reach them. WJLA / AP

Authorities worked to reopen an icy stretch of Interstate 95 closed after the storm. Photo: Virginia Department of Transport

Motorists sit stranded on Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg, Virginia. WJLA / AP

Both northbound and southbound sections of the motorway were closed due to snow and ice. Photo: Virginia Department of Transport

Snow is piled on the east side of the US Capitol a day after a snow storm in Washington. AFP

Workers remove snow from the eastern side of the US Capitol. AFP

Children use the lawn of the US Capitol to sled on Tuesday in Washington. AFP

A snowman sits in front of the Washington Monument. AFP

A visitor crosses Independence Avenue behind a fallen tree during a snowstorm in Washington. Reuters

Snow flies during a snowball fight organised by the DC Snowball Fight Association on the National Mall. AP

A nearly empty street is covered in snow after the winter storm further snarled US transport and shuttered the federal government and schools. AFP

A snowplow removes snow around the Lincoln Memorial following the storm in Washington. Reuters

The US Capitol after the winter storm. AFP

A resident uses cross-country skis outside the US Capitol building. Bloomberg

Snow covers the National Mall grounds in Washington. Bloomberg

Downed trees cover 10th Street outside the Internal Revenue Service during a snowstorm in Washington. EPA

Downed trees cover 10th Street outside the Internal Revenue Service. EPA

People walk past the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall after the winter storm. AFP

A local plays with her dogs on the National Mall in the snow. AP

Numerous cars became stuck during the snowstorm in Washington. EPA

Snow falls at the White House in Washington. AP

A person walks the dog as snow falls on the National Mall. AP

Snow-covered cable and power lines crisscross a backyard alley in a neighbourhood in Washington. AFP

Birds search for food as snow blankets the suburbs of Washington. Reuters

Birds search for food in the snow. Reuters