N.H.T.S.A. Reports Increased Traffic Deaths

More people died on United States roads in 2012 than in 2011, according to a report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Motorcyclist and pedestrian deaths each increased for the third year in a row, and deaths of bicyclists reached the highest level in six years. Over all, however, traffic deaths continue to be at historic lows.

Fatalities in 2011 were at their lowest level since 1949. The 2012 increase could not be attributed to Americans driving more, because motorists drove nearly the same number of miles in 2012 as they did in 2011, according to the report. Highway deaths increased to 33,561 in 2012, according to the safety agency’s 2012 Fatality Analysis Reporting System, known as FARS. That is 1,082 – or 3.3 percent – more than the 2011 figure. The majority of the increase occurred in the first quarter of 2012, which the report notes was the warmest in history.

The estimated number of people injured rose as well, by 6.5 percent, in what N.H.T.S.A. described in its report as a “statistically significant change” from 2011. There did not seem to be one single issue that explained the increases – according to the federal agency, which released the data – and some crashes associated with traditional risk factors even fell. For example, the number of young drivers involved in fatal crashes continued to decline.

Here are some of the conclusions the agency reached:

¦?Of those killed in passenger vehicles in 2012, 52 percent were not wearing seatbelts.

¦?Pedestrian deaths were 6.4 percent higher than in 2011, and they increased for the third consecutive year. Most occurred in urban areas, away from intersections, at night, and many involved alcohol.

¦?Fatalities among motorcycle riders increased for the third year as well and were 7.1 percent higher than in 2011. The data showed that in states with no universal helmet law, 10 times as many riders who died were not wearing a helmet than in states that had such a law.

¦?Among bicyclists, deaths increased 6.5 percent over 2011, reaching their highest level in six years. Most of these deaths occurred in urban areas and were away from intersections.

¦?In crashes involving drunken drivers, deaths increased 4.6 percent from 9,865 to 10,322. In the majority of those crashes, drivers had a blood alcohol concentration nearly double that of the legal limit.

¦?Although the number of people killed in crashes related to distracted driving decreased very slightly – from 3,360 in 2011 to 3,328 in 2012 – the number who were injured increased. Those were up 9 percent from 387,000 in 2011 to 421,000 in 2012.

¦?There is good news in more recent government data. According to early estimates, the FARS data shows a slight decrease in fatalities for the first half of 2013.