Arizona traffic fatalities are down in 2022, data shows. Here's why

After a deadlier than usual year for traffic deaths in 2021, fatalities in 2022 showed a sharp decrease, according to preliminary data from the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

According to the preliminary data from the office, traffic fatalities between January and June fell from 626 deaths in 2021 to 350 deaths in 2022 — a 44% decrease.

While the data GOHS provided doesn’t offer a monthly breakdown of alcohol-related traffic fatalities, the current count of 51 alcohol-related deaths is far less than half of 2021’s 230 total death count.

The lower death rate is a stark contrast to the state’s traffic fatality trends, which have only risen over the past several years.

'Maybe people are driving more responsibly'

Alberto Gutier, director of the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety, said he celebrated the fall in fatalities, but is cautious due to the preliminary nature of the figures. Traffic fatalities retroactively increase as county medical examiners continue investigating deaths and release their findings.

Gutier told The Arizona Republic that it takes until about September for the year’s preliminary figures to provide a clear picture of whether a significant increase or decrease in fatalities is to be expected.

But given just how significant a decrease the preliminary fatality figures are so far, Gutier said he’s confident there is a decrease overall, even if there are fatalities that have yet to be accounted for.

“The trend is down in fatalities,” Gutier said. “I’m very happy with that. I can’t tell you how much, but it’s a good trend. Maybe people are driving more responsibly.”

Gutier hopes the decrease comes partly from an increase of traffic safety awareness through signage and the media along with law enforcement training designed to catch dangerous drivers before someone is harmed or killed.

Population increase means more drivers

Although Gutier welcomed the decrease in traffic fatalities, he also highlighted that Arizona’s growing population means an increase in drivers and, consequently, more opportunities for someone to kill or be killed while behind the wheel.

The office found that Arizona went from approximately 4.6 million licensed drivers in 2011 to 5.8 million in 2021 with 103,958 and 121,221 crashes in those years, respectively.

Rick Murray, president and CEO of the National Safety Council’s Arizona chapter, echoed Gutier’s hopes that the lower fatality figures means more people took traffic safety messages to heart and reduced risky behavior while driving.

Murray said he believes the drop in fatalities could partly come from traffic returning to pre-pandemic levels and traffic congestion forcing those who would normally speed to slow down.

“We certainly saw a huge drop off when the pandemic started because nobody was driving,” Murray said. “But then we saw a lot more fatalities because in the subsequent months following that because the roads were so wide open. We had people going extensive speeds that created really catastrophic accidents and created a lot more deaths than we’d normally see in the number of accidents.”

How to avoid crashes on Arizona roads

Murray said speed is the biggest determining factor when it comes to whether a collision will be fatal — no matter how high a car’s safety rating may be.

“We can makes cars as safe as we want, but speed is going to be — and it’s going to be by driver behavior — but (speed) is going to be the determining factor in regards to whether we survive those types of catastrophic accidents.”

Murray said increased distractions, whether it be a smartphone or the touch-screen monitors installed in many car dashboards, have also contributed to fatal accidents as more drivers fail to keep their eyes glued to the road.

“The technology we have in our cars today is certainly a major distraction to a lot of drivers as they’re going down the road at 75, 80 miles an hour as we see in Arizona,” he said.

Murray said people often fool themselves into believing they can multi-task effectively while driving or mentally downplay the danger of driving distracted. He added that driving often feels second nature, leading many to underestimate how much they need to focus on their surroundings.

Murray said drivers talking on the phone can still be distracted even if the phone is in a hands-free setting and their eyes are on the road.

“You will probably — five times out of ten — miss that turn off if you’re in a deep conversation on the phone while you’re driving on the road,” Murray said. “How many times have you gotten out of the car and you get there and you say ‘Did I run that red light?’ or ‘How did I get here?’”

He said almost every driver has experienced times where they can’t recollect portions of a drive because their mind was somewhere else at the time.

“That’s why we stress to drivers in all of our training, everything that we do, that we’ve really got to be singularly focused on our action of driving,” Murray said. “Because I think we all underestimate the deadliness of a 3,000 pound at 70 or 80 miles an hour.”

Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at 602-444-2474 or perry.vandell@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @PerryVandell.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona is seeing fewer traffic fatalities in 2022: What to know