DETROIT—U.S. traffic fatalities began to climb two years ago and that deadly trend is continuing in 2022.
Roadway deaths rose 7 percent during the first three months of the year to 9,560 people, the highest number for a first quarter in two decades, according to estimates by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Traffic deaths have risen ever since pandemic lockdowns eased in 2020 as people returned to work and started taking more road trips. People drove about 40 billion more miles in the first quarter than a year earlier, a 5.6 percent increase, the agency said.
But the rate of traffic deaths per 100 million miles traveled also increased during the quarter from 1.25 deaths, to 1.27, according to the agency….