US roads got more dangerous in 2020 even though we stayed at home

Enlarge / Close-up of a red stop sign after a traffic accident. The sign is heavily scratched and dented. Many vehicle accidents are attributed to drunk driving in Hawaii. Unfortunately many end up as fatalities. (credit: Kjell Linder/Getty Images)

Thanks to the pandemic, Americans drove 13 percent fewer miles in 2020 than they did the year before. But the move to telework and lockdowns has not made our roads any safer. In fact, our roads got a lot more dangerous last year, according to preliminary data collected by the National Safety Council. The council estimates that 42,060 people were killed in crashes, an 8 percent increase from 2019. The rise looks even more shocking when normalized-it rose from 1.2 to 1.49 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, a 24 percent increase.

The National Safety Council also estimates that just under 4.8 million people were injured seriously enough in road crashes to seek medical help for nonfatal injuries. The cost of all this carnage? A whopping $474.4 billion in deaths, injuries, and property damage.

Some states fared better than others. Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Wyoming all saw a drop in road deaths, although for some this was less than 5 percent.

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