Americans reached a grim 20-year-high mark in traffic fatalities in the first quarter of 2022, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s early estimates released on Thursday.
The agency reported 9,560, a 7% increase from the 8,935 traffic deaths America suffered in the first quarter of 2021 and the highest first-quarter total for these fatalities since 2002.
The increase in motorist mortality is not evenly distributed. Nineteen states and Puerto Rico saw their numbers decline in the first quarter of 2022, while the NHTSA data noted that “29 States and the District of Columbia are projected to have experienced increases in fatalities.