Skip to Content
Streetsblog California home
Streetsblog California home
Log In

On Friday, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration released new data [PDF] showing that traffic deaths are up. Up quite a bit.

More driving, more problems. Photo: Wikipedia
More driving, more problems. Photo: Wikipedia
false

During the first nine months of 2015, 26,000 Americans were killed in traffic collisions -- a 9.3 percent increase over the same period in 2014. According to Autoblog, that would work out to the highest one-year percentage increase in traffic deaths since the 1940s if the trend continued through the end of 2015.

The most obvious reason is that cheap gas is prompting people to drive more. Indeed, during the first three quarters of 2015, drivers logged 80 billion more miles than the same period the previous year -- a 3.5 percent increase.

That means the increase in driving doesn't account for all the increase in fatalities. One theory, courtesy of David Levinson at the University of Minnesota, is that when gas prices fall, collisions rise faster than mileage because people who don't ordinarily drive much, like teenagers, start driving more.

In its messages, NHTSA keeps hammering "behavioral" issues, like drunk driving and failing to wear seatbelts -- which certainly are big contributors to traffic fatalities. But when you get down to it, driving itself is the source of risk, and NHTSA won't address the systemic factors that compel Americans to drive instead of taking transit, walking, or biking.

You'll never see NHTSA mention the disaster that is low-density, single-use zoning, which lengthens the distances people have to travel in cars. Or the way state DOTs keep building bigger highways even though they don't maintain the roads they already have.

In a statement, U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said the new data "is a signal that we need to do more," but he did not specify what, exactly, we need to do more of.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog California

Covina to Begin Construction on Recreation Village

The new facility will be next to the Metrolink station and include a variety of opportunities for fitness and amusement

July 26, 2024

Talking Headways Podcast: Have Cities Run Out of Land?

Chris Redfearn of USC and Anthony Orlando of Cal Poly Pomona on why "pro-business" Texas housing markets are catching up to "pro-regulation" California and what it might mean for future city growth.

July 26, 2024

Friday’s Headlines

Oakland identifies sites for speed camera pilot; E-bike tariffs conflict with US climate policy; Pollution spikes around warehouses, shipping hubs; More

July 26, 2024

What the Heck is Going on with the State E-bike Incentive Program?

The program's launch has been delayed for two years, and currently "there is no specific timeline" for it. Plus the administrator, Pedal Ahead, is getting dragged, but details are vague

July 26, 2024

The Paris Plan for Olympic Traffic? Build More Bike Lanes

A push to make Paris fully bikable for the Olympics is already paying dividends long before the opening ceremonies.

July 25, 2024
See all posts