NHTSA: Latest child traffic safety facts
Traffic Safety Pulse News
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently released an updated version of their Children Traffic Safety Fact Sheet with data as recent as 2021. An overview of the findings reported in the new fact sheet is below.
- There were 60.6 million children in the United States, 18 percent of the total U.S. population. Of the 42,939 traffic fatalities in the United States, 1,184 (3%) were children.
- Child traffic fatalities increased by 8 percent from 1,101 in 2020, and 1 percent from 1,173 in 2012.
- The 8-percent increase in child traffic fatalities from 2020 to 2021 is smaller than the 10-percent increase in overall traffic fatalities.
- An estimated 162,298 children were injured in traffic crashes, a 17-percent increase from 139,058 in 2020.
- An average of 3 children were killed and an estimated 445 children were injured every day in traffic crashes in the United States.
- Males accounted for 56 percent of child fatalities, and an estimated 50 percent of children injured in traffic crashes.
