AVIA Statement On NHTSA’s 2022 Crash Report

Washington, D.C. - The Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association (AVIA) issued the following statement after NHTSA released harrowing traffic fatality estimates for 2022:

“NHTSA’s 2022 traffic fatality report confirms that the safety crisis on our roadways persists. Almost 43,000 Americans died, and risky human driving behaviors like speeding, distracted and alcohol-impaired driving all continue to surge. This still represents more than 115 lives lost each day in motor vehicle crashes,” said Jeff Farrah, Executive Director of AVIA. 

“AVs are deliberately designed to dramatically improve safety on U.S. roads. Unlike human drivers, AVs don’t recklessly speed, drive distracted, or inebriated. Changing the unsafe status quo on U.S. roads requires action. Now is the time for Congress and USDOT to advance policies to support the safe and swift deployment of AVs to help meaningfully make roads in America safer.”

See here for AVIA’s Federal Policy Framework for Our AV Future, a series of recommendations for Congress and the U.S. Department of Transportation to support AVs.