The Decline in Police Traffic Stops Is Killing People
Adding more speed cameras would probably reduce the death toll, but they remain unpopular in the US. Something’s got to give.
Cameras seem to be the best method for reducing serious traffic injuries and fatalities.
Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
Since the beginning of the pandemic, traffic deaths in the US have risen sharply. Preliminary numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 46,020 people died in accidents involving motor vehicles in 2022, down slightly from 2021 but still 18% more than in 2019. (This is higher than the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s early estimate of 42,975 traffic fatalities in 2022 because it includes off-road accidents, which I’ve used to make current figures consistent with historical data from the National Safety Council.)1
The US has changed a lot over the past century, and relative to population and especially vehicle miles traveled, traffic deaths remain well below the levels of the mid-1920s through early 1990s. That’s why the next chart starts in 1990, because much-higher past rates would otherwise make it hard to see what’s been happening lately.