The United States now has reached the dubious ranking of three straight years of at least 40,000 driving-related deaths, according to the National Safety Council (NSC).
Millions more are being injured each year, and the figures mark a first for the U.S. since the Great Recession of the early 2010s. There is some hope in sight, however: the NSC concluded in preliminary findings that 2018 may have begun a levelling off of these deaths after consecutive years of increase. That said, 2018’s loss of life was still 14 percent higher than it was four years ago. The exact cause for such increases remains unknown, though there are several potential sources.
“Forty-thousand deaths is unacceptable,” Nicholas Smith, interim president and CEO of NSC, said. “We cannot afford to tread water any more. We know what works, but we need to demonstrate the commitment to implementing the solutions. Roadway deaths are preventable by doubling down on what works, embracing technology advancements and creating a culture of safer driving.”
Over the course of the last year, Florida, Hawaii, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. suffered the most, with car-related deaths spiking by at least 5.8 percent therein. Those which fared the best were Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Wyoming, which saw deaths decline by more than 9.4 percent.