American Driving Mileage Surpasses Pre-Pandemic Levels in March – Reuters

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON – Americans are returning to driving despite the rise in fuel prices.

According to the Federal Highway Administration, motorists drove 277.4 billion miles in March, an increase of 7.9 billion miles compared to the same month in 2021, and 5 billion miles more than March 2019. U.S. driving first exceeded pre-pandemic levels in January as more people returned to offices, and leisure travel continued to grow.

In March, U.S. gasoline prices surged above $4 per gallon following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Over the twelve months ending in March, U.S. drivers accumulated 3.27 trillion miles, setting a record for any comparable twelve-month period.

Driving has rebounded significantly after the sharp decline during pandemic lockdowns in 2020, which saw a 13.2% drop in vehicle travel to 2.83 trillion miles, the lowest annual total since 2001. In the first quarter of 2022, driving increased by 5.6%, amounting to 40.2 billion miles, reaching a total of 753.7 billion miles. This figure exceeded each monthly total recorded in 2019, where drivers logged 753.1 billion miles in the same timeframe.

However, some experts have raised concerns about the potential rise in traffic fatalities due to increased driving. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that U.S. traffic deaths rose by 10.5% in 2021 to 42,915, marking the highest number of fatalities on American roads in a single year since 2005. This annual increase is the highest recorded since NHTSA implemented its current traffic fatality tracking system in 1975. Additionally, pedestrian deaths surged 13% to 7,342, the highest rate since 1981, while fatalities involving cyclists increased by 5% to 985, the highest number since at least 1975.