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SALT LAKE CITY — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released its early estimates for 2019 traffic fatalities this week, revealing an increase in vehicle miles traveled but a decrease in roadway deaths nationwide.
Region 8, which includes Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, North Dakota and South Dakota, recorded a 6% decrease in fatalities from 2018, the report says.
Overall, an estimated 36,120 Americans died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2019, down about 440 fatalities or 1.2%. The administration says the decrease came despite a nearly 1% increase in vehicle miles traveled, or an additional 29 billion miles in 2019.
That comes out to 1.1 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the administration says, down from 1.13 the year before. Fatalities decreased the most among passengers (4%), drivers (3%), pedalcyclists (3%), pedestrians (2%) and motorcyclists (1%).
Of the 10 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regions, only Region 4 — Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida — recorded an increase in fatalities.
Robert Miles, director of traffic and safety at the Utah Department of Transportation, said Utah recorded a decrease of 12 traffic fatalities, or 4.6%, from 2018 to 2019. That put Utah at about 0.75 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled.
"We're doing better than national, but we still have a long way to go," Miles said. "We need everybody's help. We need people to pay attention out there — to be buckled up, to drive responsibly, to put away the distractions. Don't drive when you're drowsy. Definitely don't drive if you have any sort of impairment."
Early estimates of 2019 motor vehicle traffic data show reduced fatalities for third consecutive year https://t.co/PVdKQ8VM1P
— nhtsagov (@NHTSAgov) May 5, 2020
Even though traffic deaths dipped in 2019, Miles said 2020 is shaping up to be a less-encouraging year. As of Thursday morning, UDOT had recorded 72 fatalities on Utah highways in 2020, which is "about where we were last year."
"We should be lower," Miles said, "both from better behavior and from the fact that we have fewer vehicles out on the road" due to the novel coronavirus. "What that tells me is that we double down on good behavior on the roadways. Those folks who are driving, those folks who have to get out, please do so responsibly."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report is a preliminary statistical projection and its numbers may be revised later this year.
