‘A public health crisis’: At least 19,000 people have been killed on America’s roads this year

America’s roads have been becoming safer in the years since fatalities spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, but a group of Democratic senators are telling the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) that they’re still far too dangerous. In a letter to the agency released Wednesday, they are urging the NHTSA to do more to prevent driving-related deaths.

“Although this number fell 3.6 percent from 2022, it remains unacceptably high, with nearly 10,000 more deaths annually than in 2011,” the senators, a group that includes Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, wrote. “We urge NHTSA to quickly implement the remaining [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] traffic safety provisions and ensure that motor vehicle fatalities continue to move in reverse.”

Specifically, the senators said that they want to see more statistics on how often manufacturers are completing safety recalls, research around reducing distracted driving, and tweaks to rules around headlamp brightness, among other ideas. In September, the NHTSA said that there were nearly 19,000 traffic fatalities in the first half of the year.

“Reversing the rise in roadway deaths has been a top priority for this Department, so we’re encouraged to see continued reductions in traffic fatalities—yet the overall proportions of this issue remain at crisis levels and there is much more work to do,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement accompanying the numbers.