​Crash Deaths In California Up In 2021, Federal Estimates Show​

ACROSS CALIFORNIA — The number of people dying in traffic crashes on U.S. roadways reached a 16-year high nationally in 2021, and increased in almost every state, including California, according to federal highway safety officials.

In California, there were an estimated 4,258 traffic fatalities in 2021 — a 10.7-percent increase from 3,847 reported in 2020, according to a report released in May by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration titled "Crash Stats: Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities in 2021."

Nationwide, an estimated 42,915 people lost their lives on U.S. highways last year, up from 38,824 in 2020, a 10.5-percent increase — the largest year-over-year increase in the history of its reports, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement on its website.

The 2021 traffic fatality estimates show roads are becoming more deadly across the country. The area with the highest projected increase in traffic fatalities — 19 percent, almost double the national average — is the five-state region of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

In comparison, the five-state region in the nation’s midsection — Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska — is estimated to see a 3 percent increase in fatalities.

In the two-state region that includes California and Arizona, highway traffic deaths in 2021 are projected to increase by 10 percent over 2020.

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The projected increase comes on top of a record 38,824 traffic fatalities in 2020, at the time the highest number of fatalities since 2007.

Highway safety experts wondered at the time if dangerous driving during the COVID-19 pandemic — including driving at speeds exceeding 200 mph on highways absent the normal traffic loads of people commuting to and from work and going about their lives — was a blip or a long-term pattern.

The highway safety agency said the increased fatality rate per 100 million miles continued in the first quarter of 2021 but decreased in the second, third and fourth quarters.

Still, roads were only moderately safer by that measure.

Motorists drove about 11.2 percent more miles in 2021 than in 2020, or 325.2 billion miles more, as workers returned to the office and businesses reopened. The fatality rate per 100 million miles driven remained almost unchanged, though, down to an estimated 1.33 fatalities in 2021 from 1.34 fatalities per million miles the year prior.

Some other estimates from the report:

• Fatalities in multi-vehicle crashes were up 16 percent.
• Fatalities on urban roads were up 16 percent.
• Fatalities among drivers 65 and older were up 14 percent.
• Pedestrian fatalities were up 13 percent.
• Fatalities in crashes involving at least one large truck were up 13 percent.
• Daytime fatalities were up 11 percent.
• Motorcyclist fatalities were up 9 percent.
• Bicyclist fatalities were up 5 percent.
• Fatalities in speeding-related crashes were up 5 percent.
• Fatalities in police-reported, alcohol-involved crashes were up 5 percent.

"This crisis on our roads is urgent and preventable," said Dr. Steven Cliff, NHTSA’s Deputy Administrator. "We will redouble our safety efforts, and we need everyone — state and local governments, safety advocates, automakers, and drivers — to join us. All of our lives depend on it."