Federal officials blamed newfound freedom with open roads during the height of the pandemic for a startling increase in road deaths the past two years, but it doesn’t seem that a return to more crowded roads has improved driver behavior or road safety.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation said last week that traffic deaths were up about 9% last year, jumping from 1,129 to 1,230. That’s lower than the national increase of about 12% for the first nine months of 2021 but three percentage points higher than the state’s increase in 2020.
The national increase is among the highest since officials began reporting statistics in 1975, prompting U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to push a multi-pronged effort to reverse the trend. The plan includes increased education, improved roadway design and better emergency response when accidents occur.
PennDOT Secretary Yassmin Gramian said the state is taking a similar approach, especially pushing low-cost warning devices to help motorists such as reflective lane markers and rumble strips. The department said an analysis of accidents last year showed that nearly half of the deaths, 596 people, occurred as a result of vehicles leaving their driving lanes.
Another 182 of the deaths involved pedestrians, about 15% of the total and an increase from 146 the previous year. With the rise in alternative modes of transportation such as walking and biking, Ms. Gramian said, the state is making a special effort to protect everyone who uses the state’s roads as it designs road improvement projects.
The department said it used $450 million in Federal Highway Safety Improvement Program funds for 328 safety projects from 2017 to 2021.
But road safety needs to be a “shared responsibility,” Ms. Gramian said.
“Transportation needs to work for everyone — no matter who you are, no matter how you travel,” she said in a news release. “We continue to work with our partners to decrease fatalities through educational outreach, the latest innovations, effective enforcement, and low-cost safety improvements.”
There was improvement in one major area: deaths involving impaired drivers. The numbers showed deaths involving drivers impaired by alcohol or drugs dropped from 471 in 2020 to 450 last year.
Here are other areas where deaths increased:
• Drivers on junior licenses (16 or 17 years old): 45 deaths, up from 26.
• Aggressive driving: 126, up from 91.
• Motorcyclists: 226, up from 217.
• Heavy trucks: 156, up from 122
• Drivers or passengers not wearing seat belts: 378, up from 348.
To see the full statistics, go to the state’s Crash Information Tool website, and under Crash Downloads click on Reportable Crash Fatality Statistics.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1470 or on Twitter @EdBlazina.
First Published: May 15, 2022, 10:32 p.m.