Speeding, Distracted Driving Lead To Fatal Crashes Reaching 14-Year High In Virginia

VIRGINIA — Crash fatalities in Virginia reached a 14-year high in 2021, mirroring a national trend in fatal crashes caused by speeding and distracted driving, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

In 2021, 968 people died in crashes on Virginia roads — a 14.3 percent increase over 2020 and the highest number of deaths since 2007, when 1,026 people died in crashes in the state.

According to statistics from DMV's Highway Safety Office, fatalities increased across a number of categories, such as speed-related deaths, commercial motor vehicle-involved deaths and fatalities of motorcyclists, pedestrians, bicyclists, teen drivers and older drivers.

So far in 2022, 245 people have been killed in crashes on Virginia roadways, a 12 percent increase compared with this point in 2021, the DMV said Tuesday.

“Vehicles and roadways are safer than they ever have been, yet we continue to lose lives to senseless crashes,” Acting DMV Commissioner Linda Ford said in a statement. “Do your part to help. Slow down, buckle up, focus on the task of driving and never drive impaired. It truly is that simple."

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 31,000 people died in crashes across the United States in the first nine months of 2021, a 12 percent increase over the same time period in 2020 and the highest number of fatalities during the first nine months of any year since 2006.

In Virginia, the DMV is working on strategies to reduce fatal crashes, including education and enforcement to grant funding, news media engagement and advertising.

"This trend is poised to continue unless Virginians take action," Ford said. "Most people want to contribute to something greater; by driving safely, you can truly make a difference, not just in your life, but in the lives of everyone with whom you share the road."

In 2020, traffic fatalities increased by 2 percent across Virginia, even though traffic crashes were down 21 percent compared with 2019, according to the DMV.

As traffic volume dropped, vehicle speeds increased, which played a significant factor in the rise in the fatality rate on the nation's roadways, the DMV said.

Crashes also killed more than 6,700 pedestrians nationally in 2020, up about 5 percent from the estimated 6,412 in 2019, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. Preliminary data from 2021 indicates yet another increase in the number of pedestrian deaths.

One of the reasons for the increase in pedestrian deaths is the growing size of SUVs and trucks. They have grown heavier with higher front ends, striking people on foot with greater force than before.

Over the past 10 years, the bigger size of vehicles sold contributed to a reversal in the decline in pedestrian deaths, according to journalist Angie Schmitt, author of a new book on pedestrian deaths in the U.S.

“Now, about three out of four new vehicles are pickup trucks, vans or SUVs,” Schmitt told The New York Times. “Cars are getting bigger, faster and deadlier.”

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