In the US, trips taken on public transport are around half of what they were before the pandemic. This is partly due to working from home, reduced transport services, and alternative modes of transport (walking/cycling).

Meanwhile, there has been a surge of car-related deaths, up 18% on the previous year. The reasons behind the increase in traffic fatalities aren’t fully understood, but there are several theories:

• Motorists are speeding more on less congested roads, and therefore involved in worse crashes;
• More people are walking/biking on roads, and vulnerable road user crashes are worse;
• There has been an increase in people dying after being ejected from their cars during crashes because they weren’t wearing seatbelts, or driver drug/alcohol use;
• Increased popularity of large SUVs that are far more likely to kill pedestrians when they hit them.

For more information, see:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/04/public-transit-car-crash-deaths-us