WI Traffic Deaths Remained Above Pre-Pandemic Levels, Estimates Show

WISCONSIN — There were slightly fewer traffic deaths on Wisconsin's roads in 2021 compared to 2020, according to the latest estimates from federal highway safety officials. But the federal estimate of 597 still charts higher than the average state officials recorded for 2015-2019, which was 573.

In 2021, traffic fatalities hit a 16-year high in nearly every state. More than 42,900 people are estimated to have lost their lives on America's highways last year, up from an estimated 38,824 in 2020 — a 10.5 percent increase. It's the largest year-over-year increase from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports, the agency said in a statement on its website.

The NHTSA estimates put Wisconsin as an outlier from the rest of the nation, though. Traffic fatalities are estimated to have gone down by 2.8 percent from 2020 to 2021 in the Badger State.

The estimated reduction in deaths comes as local officials in Milwaukee are dealing with an apparent rash of reckless driving, and 2022 has started off on a deadlier path than 2021, according to preliminary data from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation

WisDOT marked 179 deaths in 2022 between January and May 15. The same timeframe in 2021 showed 162 deaths.

The 2021 federal traffic fatality estimates show roads are becoming more deadly across the country. The area with the highest projected increase in traffic fatalities — 19 percent, almost double the national average — is the five-state region of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

In comparison, the five-state region in the nation’s midsection — Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas and Nebraska — is estimated to see a 3 percent increase in fatalities.

In the five-state region that includes Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, highway traffic deaths in 2021 are projected to increase by 9 percent over 2020.

The projected increase comes on top of a record 38,824 traffic fatalities in 2020, at the time the highest number of fatalities since 2007.

Highway safety experts wondered at the time if dangerous driving during the pandemic — including driving at speeds exceeding 200 mph on highways absent the normal traffic loads of people commuting to and from work and going about their lives — was a blip or a long-term pattern.

The highway safety agency said the increased fatality rate per 100 million miles continued in the first quarter of 2021 but decreased in the second, third and fourth quarters.
Still, roads were only moderately safer by that measure.

Motorists drove about 11.2 percent more miles in 2021 than in 2020, or 325.2 billion miles more, as workers returned to the office and businesses reopened. The fatality rate per 100 million miles driven remained almost unchanged, though, down to an estimated 1.33 fatalities in 2021 from 1.34 fatalities per million miles the year prior.

Some other national estimates from the report:

• Fatalities in multi-vehicle crashes were up 16 percent.
• Fatalities on urban roads were up 16 percent.
• Fatalities among drivers 65 and older were up 14 percent.
• Pedestrian fatalities were up 13 percent.
• Fatalities in crashes involving at least one large truck were up 13 percent.
• Daytime fatalities were up 11 percent.
• Motorcyclist fatalities were up 9 percent.
• Bicyclist fatalities were up 5 percent.
• Fatalities in speeding-related crashes were up 5 percent.
• Fatalities in police-reported, alcohol-involved crashes were up 5 percent.