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Four Million Total U.S. Traffic Deaths Shows Need for National Safety Strategy

Early this year, the United States will mark a grim and tragic milestone: Four million roadway deaths since 1899. Every single one of these people left behind countless family members, friends, colleagues and neighbors. It’s impossible to fully comprehend the grief and tragedy caused by a single death, let alone four million. Something must change.

Four Million Total U.S. Traffic Deaths Shows Need for National Safety Strategy

GHSA News Release
February 21, 2024

As US Edges to Four Million Road Deaths, 'Something Must Change' Says GHSA

This year, the US will reach a total four million deaths on the road since 1899, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). Marking this 'grim and tragic milestone', the organisation's CEO Jonathan Adkins calls for a renewed sense of urgency in tackling this "safety crisis" and suggests more enforcement and better road design as key areas in which improvements can be made.

Police Receive New Tool to Detect Impairment in Drivers

The device is called a DAX Evidence Recorder, costing about $5,000 each. The device is a camera specializing in recording eye movement. They’re made for police to be able to record movements associated with certain kinds of impairment. “There’s much more to impaired driving than just alcohol,” OSHP Drug Recognition Expert Lt. Nathan Dennis said. “Drugs play a vital role in that; drug impairment is something that is an issue across Ohio’s roadways.” 

U.S. Roadways Are a Little Safer Than Last Year, but That's Not Saying Very Much

Speeders tend to be going faster than before, drinkers drunker, there's more marijuana and drug use, of course, people are looking at their phones. But while distracted, lawless driving is up, law enforcement is down. In Kansas City, the police department's traffic enforcement division has shrunk to less than half the size it was just four years ago.

Road Crash Deaths Drop, But Remain Higher Than Before Pandemic

“This recent trend toward fewer deaths on our nation’s roads is welcome news,” Jonathan Adkins, chief executive officer of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said in a statement, “but these decreases pale in comparison to the troubling and unprecedented rise in dangerous driving and fatalities experienced during the height of the pandemic.”

A Fatal Crash Shows Us Everything That’s Wrong with Traffic Enforcement

“We’re at a pivot point from the way it was to the way it will be in the future. We, as a community, are trying to figure out what we need to change in order to preserve the benefits from traffic enforcement but to correct systemic problems we see,” Russ Martin, GHSA’s senior director of policy and government relations, told Vox.

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