TAMPA, Fla — The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration believes traffic deaths are starting to level off after years of consistent increase.
In 2021, Florida had 2,796 traffic fatalities compared to 2022 which was slightly less at 2,762.
In Hillsborough County, Dale Mabry Highway is one of the most dangerous roads. In fact, Hillsborough County has it listed in its “high injury network.” Those are roads where the most traffic crashes and fatalities happen.
There are many reasons for that, but some include the fact that there are not always designated turn lanes for drivers. Emily Hinsdale with Walk Bike Tampa told us what she witnesses when driving Dale Mabry.
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"Excessive speeding, a lot of lane switches as people are trying to avoid someone stopped to turn,” she said. “There's not a lot to slow you down between intervals of lights on this road, and those are long intervals which means there are very few places for pedestrians to cross safely."
Hinsdale also told us the reason there was a sharp increase in traffic fatalities during the pandemic is because fewer people were on the road, which leads to speed.
"Multi-lane roads, when you have fewer cars on them, are going to be good places for people to go at high rates,” Hinsdale said. “We now have traffic increasing to normal levels, so why are people still speeding, why are we still seeing people weaving in and out of traffic, and why do we create road systems where we permit that."
She said groups like the Florida Department of Transportation and Hillsborough County Public Works need to come together to work on changing how roads are designed. She said specifically that would include changing the width of lanes to encourage people to slow down and also take lanes away.
The Hillsborough County Transportation Planning Organization had a meeting Wednesday morning to talk about the “Vision Zero” plan.
The National Highway Traffic Administration also released a new studythat shows the financial toll traffic crashes take on society.
The report looked at crashes from 2019, and It said crashes cost $340 billion a year. The group said people not involved in car crashes pay for 75% of the cost.
Those burdens come from insurance premiums, taxes, lost time stuck in traffic, and excess fuel consumption.
The report showed crashes claimed more than 36 thousand lives, injured 4.5 million people and damaged 23 million vehicles.
