U.S. traffic deaths rose in 2015 by 7.7% over 2014 to 35,200, the highest number of people killed on U.S. roads since 2008—that’s what the American Government’s preliminary estimate shows.
The report was compiled by NHTSA and has been submitted to Congress. It shows the percentage increase in traffic deaths in 2015 was the biggest year-on-year jump since 1966, two years before America’s first Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards took effect. The rise in traffic deaths is significantly higher than the overall 3.5% increase in U.S. vehicle travel distance in 2015, and as a result the fatality rate rose to 1.12 deaths per 100 million VMT (vehicle miles traveled) in 2015, that is 0.696 deaths per 100 million vehicle-kilometres, or one death every 143.7 million vehicle-kilometres—the highest rate since 2010. The report says deaths among bicyclists rose 13%, pedestrians 10%, and motorcyclists 9%. Fatal crashes involving young drivers were up 10%.
Driving is far safer now in the United States than it was in past decades. In 1966, the fatality rate was five times higher than today; nearly 51,000 people were killed on U.S. roads that year.