Number of car crash deaths drop, still high

More than 37K killed in 2017, marking second-deadliest year in past decade

U.S. crash deaths fell slightly in 2017 but still reflected the second-deadliest year on the road in the last decade.

The number of people killed in traffic crashes in 2017 was 37,133, down 1.8 percent from the year before, according to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures released Wednesday.

But the nation’s pedestrian safety crisis continued as 5,977 pedestrians were killed, according to NHTSA. While that total declined 1.7 percent from 2016, it was the second-highest number reported by NHTSA in the previous 27 years. It was topped only by

2016’s 6,080 pedestrian deaths, a figure that was recently revised up from

5,987.

NHTSA officials said they were encouraged to see overall crash fatalities decline slightly, but they said it’s not cause for celebration.

Heidi King, deputy administrator for NHTSA, said “there is no single reason for the overall decline.”

She flagged concerning factors that could be contributing to the elevated level of danger on American roads, including increases in drugged driving

and distracted driving.

While NHTSA officially classified only 8.5 percent of 2017 deaths as “distraction-affected,” King said the true number is probably higher.

How much higher? King said it’s difficult to quantify since drivers are hesitant to reveal they were distracted. But she said state and local law-enforcement authorities report that drivers are increasingly looking away from the road to use their devices.

For the first half of 2018, NHTSA estimated that fatalities declined 3.1 percent compared with the first half of

2017.

About 17,120 people were killed on the road in the first half of this year, according to preliminary data. Actual figures will be released sometime in

2019.

In 2017, total miles traveled increased slightly. As a result, the number of deaths per 100 million miles traveled fell 2.5 percent to 1.16.

But that still reflected the worst rate since 2008, when 37,423 people were killed for a rate of 1.26 per 100 million miles traveled.