Improved Crash Testing Needed After New Data Shows Traffic Fatalities at 16-Year High

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, VERITY NOW, a coalition to end gender discrimination in vehicle safety testing, released a statement responding to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA’s) release of new data showing traffic fatalities reached a 16-year high in 2021. NHTSA estimates 42,915 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes last year, a 10.5% increase from the 38,824 fatalities in 2020 - the largest annual percentage increase in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System’s history. 

“The alarming and unacceptable level of traffic fatalities is a stark reminder for the federal government to do more to make cars safer for everyone behind the wheel,” said VERITY NOW Co-Chair and former Congresswoman Susan Molinari. “Disturbingly, NHTSA’s flagship 5-star safety rating program prioritizes the safety of men - and the agency has no plan to remedy this obvious gender discrimination that is needlessly ending women’s lives. You can’t address a vehicle fatality crisis this large when you are ignoring half the drivers.”

“These new statistics make clear the traffic fatality crisis is getting worse,” said  VERITY NOW Co-Chair and former Global Vice Chair of Public Policy for EY Beth Brooke. “This unprecedented increase in car crash deaths is especially disturbing for women, who, in similar collisions, are more likely than men to be seriously injured or killed. It’s time for NHTSA to update and improve its outdated NCAP test by using crash test dummies that more accurately represent women drivers and passengers.”

VERITY (Vehicle Equity Rules in Transportation) NOW is a coalition voicing concern about these inequities and raising awareness with policymakers in the U.S. who have the power to fix them. VERITY NOW strives to achieve equity in vehicle safety by educating on, and advocating for, crash testing standards that protect everybody, regardless of gender.