A new report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is stating that fatalities due to traffic accidents have been increasing during the first part of 2012. This increase is possibly the largest increase in traffic fatalities on record since reports were first kept track of in 1975. Federal transportation agencies must begin asking themselves whether the past few years of declines in traffic fatalities are a thing of the past.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is reporting that traffic accident fatalities across the country actually increased by 9% during the first 6 months of 2012.
That is believed to be the biggest increase on record since the agency began tracking accident data in 1975. During the first 6 months of 2012, approximately 16,290 people were killed in accidents across the country. During the same period of time in 2011, the fatality toll was 14,950.
The federal agency has more bad news. According to the agency, fatality rates across the country seem to be at their highest level since 2009. The rate of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was 1.04 fatalitie
s last year. This year, the rate has increased to 1.12 deaths. Earlier, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had reported that traffic fatalities were high during the first 3 months of the year. Now it has been confirmed that the spike has carried over into the next 3 months as well.
In 2005, 42,708 people had been killed in traffic accidents across the United States. It is highly unlikely that the final fatality toll in 2012 will touch that dramatic high. However, it seems likely that we are set to record an increase in traffic accident fatalities over last year, for the first time in at least 5 years.
Federal analysts are blaming an unusually warm winter in 2012 for some of this increase. They believe that motorists traveled more during the warm weather, contributing to an increased number of accidents. The NHTSA needs to analyze these preliminary numbers, and understand what can be done to reverse this trend.
