NHTSA estimate shows a seven percent increase in traffic fatalities

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently released its estimated traffic fatalities for January through March of this year. The news isn’t good: the early estimate shows 9,560 deaths, a seven percent increase over 2021 fatalities for the same period. These deaths mark the largest number of first-quarter fatalities in 20 years.

Although the average number of fatalities increased nationwide, several states did show improvements in their fatality rates. The states that showed the biggest drop in fatalities are:

• Rhode Island (-50%)
• North Dakota (-41.7%)
• Montana (-32.7%)
• Arizona (-31.4%)
• South Dakota (-25.0%)
• Wyoming (-25.0%)

The states that saw the biggest increases in quarter one fatalities include:

• Delaware (163.2%)
• Connecticut (73.6%)
• Virginia (71.8%)
• Vermont (66.7%)
• District of Columbia (62.5%)
• Hawaii (58.3%)

The average number of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled for quarter one jumped from 1.25 to 1.27.