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Road deaths skyrocketed in 2020, despite the fact that Americans drove less due to the pandemic, and black Americans contributed a disproportionately large share to the increase in deaths.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this month estimated that 38,680 people were killed in car accidents in 2020, the highest forecast death toll since 2007, despite a 13.2% year-over-year decrease in kilometers. Broken down by race lines, white pedestrian deaths increased 4%, American deaths increased 11%, and Asian and Pacific islander deaths increased 29%.
But The NHTSA found the largest increase in deaths – 23% – among blacks, which appears to be a clear example of what populations could and could not afford to stay at home during the pandemic.
The death toll of black Americans had already increased in recent years, with a 16% increase from 2005 to 2019, according to NHTSA data. During the same period, road deaths for whites fell by 27.8%.
Road safety advocates told CNN Business the 2020 Increases are worrying but not surprising, and said with fewer cars on the roads, people drove faster, which made the roads less safe for drivers, passengers, pedestrians and cyclists. Where Americans live and where they work probably contributed to who died.
“Same story, different day. It’s unfortunate, ”said Charles Brown, who heads urban planning and policy firm Equitable Cities, describing his initial reaction to the 2020 death data data and the 23% increase in black deaths.
“This tells me who was out and who was allowed to work from home,” Eulois Cleckley, executive director of the Denver Department of Transportation, told CNN Business. “We have a lot to do to repair our infrastructure and make it much safer.”
He said 5% of Denver’s roads account for over 50% of deaths, and the deadliest roads are mostly in low-income minority areas.
Cleckley and other transportation experts said the pandemic exacerbated long-lasting inequalities and made them even more blatant. According to Alex Karner, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin who studies the effects of traffic on the environment and health, black Americans have historically borne the brunt of the traffic-related effects. Pointing out the Interstate Highway System, he said blacks and low-income residents were generally the ones who were evicted to build it.
Angie Schmitt, traffic advisor and author of Right of Way, a book about pedestrian deaths in the US, said she was disappointed that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg had not seen any comment on 2020 deaths or racial differences.
“We need a real wake-up call in the USA” Schmitt said. “It is a good time for leaders to re-commit to safety. What we’re doing doesn’t work very well. “
Following an investigation into Buttigieg’s apparent silence on the new data, an NHTSA spokesman sent CNN Business a statement from Buttigieg naming safety a top priority.
“Last year’s traffic death rates and the racial differences they reflect are unacceptable. This reflects broader patterns of inequality in our country – and underscores the urgent work we as a nation must do to make our roads safer for every American, “Buttigieg said in the statement.
Buttigieg also said President Joe Biden’s American Jobs Plan calls for a $ 20 billion investment in safety, including $ 10 billion in safe roads, to fund accident reduction efforts.
Even before the 2020 data, Buttigieg had spoken about racial differences in pedestrian safety, highlighting research that found it was much more dangerous for Blacks, Native Americans, and Alaskan Natives to be pedestrians. From 2010 to 2019, black people were killed by drivers at an 82% higher rate than white, non-Hispanic Americans, according to transportation organization Smart Growth America.
Several local transit leaders said they see promising moves at the federal level. Keith Benjamin, director of the Charleston, South Carolina Department of Transportation and Transportation, told CNN Business he was thrilled that Buttigieg changed the criteria for grants this year to include racial justice and climate change resilience.
He added that there are many simple and easy solutions that can be done at the local level to improve security.
“When someone enters the street, it is important that they have a safe zebra crossing,” said Benjamin. “It is important that our design criteria do not just refer to a single vehicle.”
According to Alex Engel, a spokesman for the National Association of City Transportation Officials, the United States is the only developed country with deteriorating road safety. In the USA, for example, there are twice as many road fatalities as Canada, when adjusted for the population, according to the World Health Organization.
“This is a public health crisis that we don’t talk about or how to treat,” said Tara Goddard, a Texas A&M professor who studies transportation planning and safety.
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