The US Transportation Department said on Thursday it is awarding $1 billion for a series of projects aimed at reducing traffic crashes, as road deaths remain sharply higher than pre-pandemic levels.
The department separately on Thursday estimated that 18,720 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in the first six months of 2024, down 3.2% over 19,330 deaths in the first half of 2023.
While traffic fatalities have declined for nine straight quarters, they remain sharply higher than pre-pandemic levels, when just over 17,000 people were killed in the first half of 2019.
Among the 350 new awards that are part of a $5 billion, five-year program funded by the $1 trillion 2021 infrastructure law is $29.8 million for Los Angeles to implement safety improvements at 77 intersections, mostly near schools and commercial areas.
Many projects are aimed at making it safer for pedestrians and bicyclists including $10 million for Savannah, Georgia to upgrade 15 intersections including dedicated left turns, sidewalks, crosswalks, and extended bicycle lanes. A further $20 million is earmarked for Chicago to boost safety efforts in the North Avenue corridor.
Traffic deaths spiked after the start of Covid-19 and remain elevated. The fatality rate in early 2024 fell but still was higher for the three-month period in any pre-pandemic year since 2008.
As US roads became less crowded during the Covid-19 pandemic, some motorists perceived police as less likely to issue tickets, experts said, resulting in riskier behaviour on the roads.
US traffic deaths jumped 10.5% in 2021 to 42,915, the highest number killed on American roads in a single year since 2005.
In 2022, the number of pedestrians killed rose 0.7% to 7,522, the most since 1981. The number of cyclists killed rose 13% to 1,105 in 2022, the most since at least 1980.
Reuters