In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) released its Overview of Motor Vehicle Traffic Crashes in 2022 report.  NHTSA found that there was a 1.7% decrease in United States roadway deaths in 2022 as compared to 2021, down from 43,230 in 2021 to 42,514 in 2022.  That is 716 fewer lives lost.  Furthermore, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) decreased by 3.6%.

The report also found that the estimated number of people hurt in roadway crashes had fallen by 4.6% in the same period.

A corollary finding was that the total number of police reported traffic crashes had, as one might expect, also decreased.

Crash fatalities decreased in 2022 compared to 2021 in the following occupant categories (among others):

• Passenger cars and light trucks
• Urban and rural settings
• Speed related crashes
• Distracted-driving crashes
• Alcohol impaired driving crashes
• Crashes involving younger drivers

Unfortunately, traffic fatalities increased in 2022 compared to 2021 in these categories:

• Large truck crashes
• Pedestrian crashes
• Motorcycle crashes
• Crashes involving drivers 65 years of age and older.

Tennessee saw a decrease in fatalities from motor vehicle crashes from 2021 to 2022 of 1%, which was less than the national average decrease of 1.7%

NHTSA has also released preliminary data in a report entitled Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2023.  This report projects a further decrease in traffic fatalities for 2023 compared with 2022.  The projection is that 40,990 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2023, which is estimated to be a 3.6% decrease.  Final data will not be available until next year, but the national trend is encouraging.

Tennessee reported an increase in fatal crashes from 1314 in 2022 to 1329 in 2023 for an uptick of 1.9%.

The NHTSA report shows that drunken driving deaths have risen to a level not seen since 2006.  About 13,500 people were killed in alcohol impaired related crashes in 2022. This is about the same number as were killed in 2021 but 33% more than the total in 2019.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that about one million persons were arrested for impaired driving in 2019.  That number dropped to about 780,000 in the pandemic year of 2020 and has not returned to pre–pandemic arrest levels.

Drunken driving deaths are up nationally, in part, because arrests for drunk driving are down.  Enforcement matters.

To learn more visit crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/.