Driving is the primary mode of transportation in the United States. The bulk of the population uses private vehicles to get to work, school, stores, and vacation destinations. And because of its size and lack of an interstate public transit system, the U.S. is more reliant on private cars than many other countries.
According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHA), the average number of miles driven per year in the U.S. is currently 13,476 per driver. However, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, stay-at-home orders, and an ongoing shift toward working from home may have forever changed the driving landscape. Here’s a look at some of the ways driving has changed before, during, and after the pandemic.
Pre-Pandemic Driving and the “Pandemic Pause”
In a normal year, prior to the lockdowns, U.S. drivers each put in an average of about 13,500 miles per year. However, when COVID put the brakes on life as we know it, many people stopped their daily commute. Instead of driving to work, a huge portion of the workforce started working from home as much as possible. This complete shift left some people in auto-related industries wondering what the 2020 driving statistics would look like and if things would ever get back to normal.
A study from the AAA Foundation found that daily personal car trips declined by 45% in April 2020. At the same time, trips for all modes of transportation combined were down by 40%. While travel began to increase following this time period, it still remained below 2019 levels for the rest of the year.
Speeding Increased in 2020
Most people would assume that vehicle-related deaths would be down in 2020 because in many areas there were fewer drivers on the road due to stay-at-home orders. While there was a lot less traffic, some of the people on the road figured that meant the speed limits didn’t apply.
States like Minnesota issued around twice as many speeding tickets in 2020 for drivers going over 100 miles per hour. To put it in perspective, the highest speed limit in Minnesota is just 65 miles per hour.
But Minnesota isn’t alone. A dozen states have reported seeing an increase in drivers going 100 MPH or faster.
Unfortunately, the need for speed didn’t change once the lockdowns eased. Police officers and state troopers across the country have noted that overall speed has increased.
More Impaired Driving and Less Seatbelt Wearing
The NHTSA released a special report on traffic safety in Q2 of 2020 that gave the first glimpse of driving trends during the pandemic. Two disturbing trends they discovered in addition to speeding were an increase in impaired driving and a decrease in seatbelt use.
Drivers were twice as likely to be ejected from the vehicle in the second quarter of 2020 compared to Q2 2019. The use of alcohol, marijuana, and opioids were all up at trauma centers across the country.
Vehicle-Related Deaths Higher in 2020
Even if people were driving faster and using their seatbelts less, the hope was that fewer drivers on the road would help keep the crash death rate down. But that wasn’t the case. There were fewer crashes, but the crashes that occurred were more severe. In 2020, a total of 38,824 people died in motor vehicle crashes — a 7% increase compared with 2019.
2021 and Beyond: A Return to the Roads
As the pandemic began to subside and life got back to normal, people started to get back on the roads again. While statistics show that drivers across the nation drove approximately 30% fewer miles in the last half of 2020 when compared to 2019, by 2021, these numbers had shifted significantly. In March 2021, driving increased by 19% year-over-year, and also increased 20% between February and March. Still, the average miles driven hadn't increased back to pre-pandemic levels. In March of 2021, U.S. drivers were clocking 79% of the miles driven in February of 2020.
Today, these numbers continue to skyrocket. In January of 2022, U.S. driving was back to pre-pandemic levels as Americans began to return to their offices and business and leisure trips resumed. According to new FHWA data, as of March 2022, Americans were driving 277.4 miles per month in their vehicles, reflecting a cumulative increase of 40.2 billion miles (5.6%).
Traffic Fatalities Continue to Rise
Sadly, this increase in traffic has led to even more vehicle fatalities. According to the NHTSA’S early estimates of motor vehicle fatalities for 2021, approximately 42,915 people died in car crashes, a 10.5% increase over the 2020 statistics. This is also the highest number of vehicle deaths since 2005 and the highest annual percentage increase since the NHTSA started using the reporting system in 1975.
It seems that almost all types of traffic-related fatalities have increased between 2020 and 2021, including:
Fatal multi-vehicle crashes — up 16%
Deaths among drivers aged 65 and older — up 14%
Fatalities from crashes on urban roads — up 16%
Pedestrian fatalities — up 13%
Motorcyclist fatalities — up 9%
Bicyclist fatalities — up 5%
Fatalities resulting from speeding-related crashes — up 5%
Fatalities resulting from alcohol-related crashes — up 5%
Stay Safe on the Roads
If these statistics give you a bit of driving anxiety, don’t worry. While there’s nothing you can do about the amount of traffic on the roads, you can sharpen your driving skills and learn proven methods to help you avoid traffic incidents. I Drive Safely’s online traffic school is a great place to start. Check it out today!
*This article was updated on 9/14/22.
