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42,915 Americans Died in Traffic Accidents in 2021—the Most Since 2005

The problem didn’t start with the pandemic, but things got much worse over the course of it.

A Department of Transportation preliminary projection released Tuesday shows that 42,915 Americans died in traffic accidents in 2021—a 10.5 percent spike from 2020 and the highest total since 2005. Deaths on urban roads went up by 16 percent and pedestrian deaths went up by 13 percent as 44 states recorded more traffic deaths, including 4,573 deaths in Texas (up 18 percent), 3,847 in California (up nearly 11 percent) and 3,473 in Florida (up nearly 13 percent). Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Utah all saw increases of over 20 percent, while Puerto Rico was up by nearly 40 percent. The problem precedes the pandemic, with significant increases in traffic deaths for 10 consecutive quarters, going back to 2017. But the pandemic appears to have accelerated the issue, with the second quarter of 2021 registering the largest percentage increase ever and with both 2020 and 2021 both registering a much higher number of deaths per million miles traveled than in any year in the preceding decade.