U.S.

Why Are U.S. Car Crashes On The Rise?

By 2019, the yearly death rate was the lowest level since cars first rolled off the conveyor belt in the 1920s. Then the pandemic hit.

Why Are U.S. Car Crashes On The Rise?
Shafkat Anowar / AP
SMS

The U.S. Is in the middle of one of the worst surges in deadly traffic crashes since the 1940s.  

For a time, crashes were falling. Cars got safer, speed limits were lower, and enforcement cracked down on driving under the influence.  

And by 2019, the yearly death rate was the lowest level since cars first rolled off the conveyor belt in the 1920s.  

Then the pandemic hit, and the progress has seemingly vanished. Car crashes are steadily rising. 

And it isn’t any safer if you choose to walk, with pedestrian deaths soaring 45 percent over the last decade.  

 Why is this happening now?