WASHINGTON (TNS) — Fatalities on Pennsylvania highways rose last year even as traffic deaths declined across the country, according to preliminary figures released Monday.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 1,229 people died in crashes in Pennsylvania last year, up 4.2% over the 1,179 deaths recorded in 2022.
Traffic deaths nationally declined 3.6%, from 42,514 in 2022 to 40,990 in 2023. According to the report, 35 states saw a decline in fatalities, including Pennsylvania’s neighbors New Jersey, New York and Ohio. The other 15 saw increases, including Pennsylvania and neighbors Maryland and West Virginia.
It was the second straight year of declining fatalities nationally as the U.S. emerged from a pandemic and the federal Department of Transportation released a national safety strategy to reduce highway deaths.
The effort, funded in part with money from President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law, calls for using new technology, adjusted speed limits, changes in road design and signage, and improved responses from medical personnel to address traffic-related deaths.
There also has been a problem with driver behavior. The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, in a 2022 study, found increases in speeding, running red lights, texting, driving while fatigued and driving while under the influence of alcohol or cannabis from 2020 to 2021.
State transportation officials said they were waiting for more data before they could talk about why Pennsylvania road deaths were increasing. The state has issued its own Strategic Highway Safety Plan to reduce highway deaths. Its ongoing million-dollar campaign, including print, digital and radio advertising, as well as ads at gas pumps and highway billboards seeks to change motorists’ behaviors when they get behind the wheel.
“Many traffic fatalities are completely preventable,” PennDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Kuntch said. “Drivers can help reduce crashes and fatalities by always following the speed limit, paying attention when behind the wheel, buckling up, and driving sober. Buckling up is the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones in a crash.”
More than 30% of fatalities involve a driver who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, Kuntch said.
Separately, NHTSA is starting a new campaign to fight distracted driving, urging motorists to “put the phone away or pay.”
“Distracted driving is extremely dangerous,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Sophie Shulman said. “Distraction comes in many forms, but it is also preventable.”
