Increase in US Car Death Rate in 2020

March 2021

There was a historic rise in the number of people killed in car crashes in the US during 2020. The death spiked 24 percent compared to the previous year— the highest one-year spike in almost a century.

It came at a time when there was an equally historic reduction in congestion that allowed the remaining drivers to race around recklessly on roads designed to prioritize speed above all else.

According to preliminary data from the National Safety Council — a widely respected non-profit that releases its estimates of annual roadway fatalities about two years earlier than the federal government — about 42,060 people lost their lives to the U.S. traffic pandemic in 2020, even as the coronavirus pandemic simultaneously ravaged the nation.

That’s about an 8.4-percent surge from the 38,800 deaths in the 2019 report — but because total annual mileage dropped about 13 percent during the nationwide quarantine, the one-year increase in the car crash fatality rate was the highest since 1924.

In some states — such as South Dakota (+33 percent), Vermont (+32 percent), Arkansas (+26 percent), and Rhode Island (+26 percent) — the increase in deaths was far higher than the national average. The human costs of those increases are impossible to measure.

“As I know all too well, these are not just numbers,” said Amy Cohen, co-founder of Families for Safe Streets, a support and advocacy group for people who have lost loved ones to traffic violence. “These are people: children, parents, grandparents, friends, co-workers. These are lives lost and life-changing injuries suffered in preventable crashes.”

“We do not need more ‘thoughts and prayers’ for the 42,060 lives lost last year in preventable traffic crashes,” said Leah Shahum, director of the Vision Zero Network.  “We need elected leaders to take action and implement the strategies that are proven to save lives on our streets, sidewalks and bikeways.”

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