KFF Health News 225d ago

Despite local, state, and federal safety campaigns, such as the global Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities, such deaths are up 20% in the U.S. from a decade ago, from 32,744 in 2014 to an estimated 39,345 in 2024, according to data from the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Although traffic deaths have declined since peaking at 43,230 in 2021, the number of deaths remains higher than a decade ago. Since the covid-19 pandemic, the Pew Research Center found, Americans’ driving habits have worsened across multiple measures, from reckless driving to drunk driving, which road safety advocates call a public health failure. They say technology could dramatically reduce traffic deaths, but proposals often run up against industry resistance, and the Trump administration is focusing on driverless cars to both innovate and improve public safety. KFF Health News audience engagement editor Chaseedaw Giles spoke with Kris Edwards whose wife was killed in a hit-and-run crash on June 29 as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Hollywood; Kira Mauseth, a teaching professor at Seattle University, and a practicing clinical psychologist; and Adam Snider, director of communications for the Governors Highway Safety Association.