Continuation of Research on Traffic Safety during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency: January – June 2021 [Traffic Safety Facts]

NHTSA · 2021 · ROSA P / United States. Department of Transportation. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

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Summary

This National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research note examines changes in traffic safety behaviors and outcomes during the first half of 2021, continuing the agency’s monitoring of the COVID-19 public health emergency’s impact on road safety. Motivated by preliminary 2020 data showing increased fatality rates and risky driving behaviors, the study aims to identify persistent trends to inform countermeasures. The analysis synthesizes data from multiple sources, including the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the Federal Highway Administration’s National Performance Management Research Dataset (NPMRDS), the National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS), and various commercial telematics providers and surveys. The findings indicate that while vehicle miles traveled (VMT) rebounded in early 2021, approaching 2019 levels, travel patterns had not fully normalized. Approximately 23% of the population stayed home daily in May and June 2021, down from pandemic peaks but higher than the 19% observed in 2019. Despite this return of traffic volume, risky behaviors persisted. NEMSIS data revealed that the rate of severely injured crash patients—those with a survival probability of 36.1% or less—remained elevated at 1.17% in early 2021, compared to 1.00% in 2019. Ejection rates, a proxy for seat belt non-use, also remained higher than pre-pandemic levels, particularly among males and in rural areas. Speeding trends showed that while average speeds on urban interstates narrowed in dispersion, the fastest 1% of vehicles maintained consistently higher speeds through mid-2021. Additionally, telematics data from Cambridge Mobile Telematics and Zendrive indicated increased incidences of cell phone manipulation and distracted driving, with surveys confirming that a subset of drivers reported higher likelihoods of speeding and distraction during the pandemic. Indirect measures, such as increased wholesale alcohol sales and cannabis tax revenues, suggested continued substance use risks. The significance of these findings lies in the confirmation that dangerous driving behaviors, including speeding, seat belt non-use, and distraction, did not revert to pre-pandemic norms even as traffic volumes recovered. The sustained severity of injuries and elevated ejection rates, particularly in rural areas where EMS response times are longer, pose ongoing challenges for emergency services and public safety. The report highlights the need for targeted countermeasures addressing these persistent risks and underscores the value of integrating diverse data sources, including commercial telematics and EMS records, to monitor evolving traffic safety trends in real-time.

Key finding

Ejection rates and severe injury rates in motor vehicle crashes remained elevated in the first half of 2021 compared to 2019, while average speeds and indicators of substance use also increased.

Methodology

dataset

Provenance

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Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified.

Topics

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• fatality injury trends
• incidence prevalence
• demographic disparities

Information type

What kind of knowledge this paper contributes, grouped by family — independent of topic (what it is about) and method (how it was studied).

• Empirical Findings: crash risk outcomes, observational prevalence
• Methodological Resource: dataset resource