California traffic deaths spiked for second year in a row in 2021
Traffic deaths in California surged by 10.7% in 2021 relative to 2020, mirroring a grim upward trend observed nationwide, according to estimates released this week by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The federal agency reported that an estimated 4,258 people died in vehicle crashes in California last year — up from 3,847 in 2020 — marking the second year in a row that traffic deaths have increased in the state. The total represents about one-tenth of all the traffic deaths in the country in 2021 and is indicative, state transportation officials said, of a "crisis on our roads."
"It is beyond tragic that nearly 10% of all traffic deaths in the country last year occurred on California roads — 4,258 lives cut short and countless families who will never get to see a loved one again," California State Transportation Agency Secretary Toks Omishakin and California Office of Traffic Safety Director Barbara Rooney said in a joint statement. (Californians make up about 12% of the United States population, according to US Census Bureau figures).
Across the country, traffic deaths spiked by 10.5% in 2021 compared to 2020, with 44 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico all reporting increases. An estimated 42,915 people — more than enough to fill the seats at Oracle Park — were killed on the road in 2021. It's the highest traffic death toll in the US in 16 years, according to NHTSA estimates.
"This crisis on our roads is urgent and preventable," said Steven Cliff, NHTSA's deputy administrator, in a statement. "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."
The NHTSA is still collecting traffic data from 2020 and 2021, and figures are subject to change. The full annual report for 2021 will be released later this year.
According to the preliminary findings, nationwide traffic deaths and the traffic fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT) both increased during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Work-from-home policies left many roads wide open for a time, and law enforcement and transportation officials have said that some people may have developed a tendency to drive faster, and thus more dangerously, as a result. In the Bay Area, despite emptier roads in 2020, most local counties reported increased rates of traffic fatalities.
As those policies lifted and many people returned to their commutes in 2021, overall VMT jumped by about 11% nationwide. Traffic deaths and the traffic fatality rate per 100 million VMT increased through the beginning of 2021 and then decreased in the second, third and fourth quarters of the year. The fatality rates per 100 million VMT were roughly the same between 2020 and 2021, NHTSA officials said.
Twenty-two states observed greater increases in traffic deaths in 2021 than California did. Idaho led the way with a 33.6% increase, going from 214 deaths in 2020 to 286 deaths in 2022. Puerto Rico reported a 39.3% increase. Wyoming was the only state with a double-digit decrease in traffic deaths, its 113 deaths last year representing an 11% decline, NHTSA data show.
The NHTSA's early findings show that between 2020 and 2021, deaths across the country from multi-vehicle crashes increased by 16%, deaths on urban roads went up 16%, deaths among pedestrians rose by 13% and deaths among bicyclists increased by 5%.
State transportation officials said Wednesday that the issue of California's rising traffic deaths has "no single solution" and that it will take "multiple layers of protection" to reduce the number of crashes, as well as the seriousness of crashes.
The state's Safe System approach to traffic safety seeks to eliminate deaths and serious injury resulting from crashes. It is similar to the Vision Zero approach that some cities, including San Francisco and San Jose, have adopted. Both methods commit to reducing harm from crashes through education and outreach, traffic law enforcement, infrastructure and design improvements, and a focus on targeting areas that are particularly deadly.
Over the next five years, California is set to receive $9.45 billion for public transportation and $25.3 billion for highways from the $1 trillion infrastructure law passed last fall. The law is also boosting funding for the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program, which will supply the state with $242 million to pay for projects that help reduce fatal and severe crashes, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, said in December.
"We must create a more forgiving transportation system and add multiple layers of protection that together will reduce the number and seriousness of crashes," Omishakin and Rooney said in their statement Wednesday. "We will work tirelessly to make it happen and won't be satisfied until the annual number of traffic deaths in California stays at zero for good."
Andy Picon (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: andy.picon@hearst.com Twitter: @andpicon
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