LOS ANGELES \u2014 Kris Edwards waited at home with friends for his wife, Erika \u201cTilly\u201d Edwards, to go out to dinner, but she never made it back to the house they had purchased only four days earlier. Around 9 p.m. on June 29, a hit-and-run driver killed Tilly as she walked to her car after a fundraiser performance in Hollywood.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve just got to figure out how to keep living. And the hard part with that is not knowing why,\u201d Edwards said of his wife\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
Despite local, state, and federal safety campaigns, such as the global Vision Zero<\/a> initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities, such deaths are up 20% in the U.S. from a decade ago, from 32,744 in 2014 to an estimated 39,345 in 2024<\/a>, according to data from the Department of Transportation\u2019s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Although traffic deaths have declined since peaking at 43,230 in 2021, the number of deaths remains higher than a decade ago.<\/p>\n Since the covid-19 pandemic, the Pew Research Center found, Americans\u2019 driving habits have worsened across multiple measures, from reckless driving to drunk driving<\/a>, which road safety advocates call a public health failure. They say technology could dramatically reduce traffic deaths, but proposals often run up against industry resistance, and the Trump administration is focusing on driverless cars to both innovate and improve public safety.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery day, 20 people go out for a walk, and they don\u2019t return home,\u201d said Adam Snider, a spokesperson for the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state road safety offices.<\/p>\n American roads have become more dangerous than violent crimes in some cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Houston are among the major cities that now report more traffic fatalities than homicides. In 2024, the Los Angeles Police Department reported an estimated 268 homicides and 302 traffic deaths, the second consecutive year<\/a> that the number of people killed in collisions exceeded the number of homicide victims, according to Crosstown LA, a nonprofit community news outlet.<\/p>\n San Francisco reported more than 40 traffic deaths<\/a> and 35 homicides<\/a> in 2024. In Houston, approximately 345 people<\/a> died in crashes and 322 from homicide<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cSimply put, the United States is in the middle of a road safety emergency,\u201d David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, testified during a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing this summer<\/a>. Harkey said that, out of 29 high-income countries, America ranks at the bottom in road safety. \u201cThis spike is not \u2014 I repeat, is not \u2014 a global trend. The U.S. is an outlier.\u201d<\/p>\n In January 2017, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti<\/a> joined 13 other L.A. city leaders in pledging to implement the Vision Zero action plan<\/a> and eliminate traffic deaths in the city by 2025.<\/p>\n Instead, deaths have increased<\/a>.<\/p>\n An audit<\/a> released in April that was commissioned by the city\u2019s administrative officer found that the level of enthusiasm for the program at City Hall has diminished and that it suffered because of \u201cthe pandemic, conflicts of personality, lack of total buy-in for implementation, disagreements over how the program should be administered , and scaling issues.\u201d The report also cited competing interests among city departments and inconsistent investment in the city\u2019s most dangerous traffic corridors.<\/p>\n Mayor Karen Bass\u2019 office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Last year, California state Sen. Scott Wiener proposed a bill<\/a> that would have required new cars sold in the state to include \u201cintelligent speed assistance,\u201d software that could prevent vehicles from exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 mph. But the bill was watered down<\/a> following pushback from the auto industry and opposition from some legislators who called it government overreach. It was ultimately vetoed<\/a> by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said a state mandate would disrupt ongoing federal safety assessments.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, an influential automotive lobby, this year sued the federal government<\/a> over an automatic emergency braking rule adopted during the Biden administration. The lawsuit is pending in federal court while the Department of Transportation completes a review. Even before Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term, the alliance appealed to the president-elect in a letter<\/a> to support consumer choice.<\/p>\n Under Trump, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is prioritizing the development of autonomous vehicles by proposing sweeping regulatory changes to test and deploy driverless cars. \u201cFederal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards were written for vehicles with human drivers and need to be updated for autonomous vehicles,\u201d NHTSA Chief Counsel Peter Simshauser said in September in announcing the modernization effort<\/a>, which includes repealing some safety rules. \u201cRemoving these requirements will reduce costs and enhance safety.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Democratic lawmakers, however, have criticized the administration\u2019s repeal of safety rules as misguided since new rules can be implemented without undoing existing safeguards. NHTSA officials did not respond to requests for comment about Democrats\u2019 concerns.<\/p>\n Advocates worry that without continued adoption of road safety regulations for conventional vehicles, factors such as excessive speed and human error will continue to drive fatalities despite the push for driverless cars.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to continue to have strong collaboration from the federal, state, local sectors, public sector, private sector, the everyday public,\u201d Snider, of the Governors Highway Safety Association, said. \u201cWe need everyday drivers to get involved.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n It took nearly a month for police to track down the driver of a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen allegedly involved in Tilly\u2019s death. Authorities have charged Davontay Robins with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, felony hit-and-run driving, and driving with a suspended license due to a previous DUI. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is out on bail.<\/p>\n Kris Edwards now tends to the couple\u2019s backyard garden by himself. Since his wife\u2019s death, he has experienced sleep deprivation, fatigue, and trouble eating, and he relies on a cane to walk. His doctors attribute his ailments to the brain\u2019s response to grief.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not alone,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I am lonely, in this big, empty house without my partner.\u201d<\/p>\n Edwards hopes for justice for his wife, though he said he\u2019s unsure if prosecutors will get a conviction. He wants her death to mean something: safer streets, slower driving, and for pedestrians to be cautious when getting in and out of cars parked on busy streets.<\/p>\n \u201cI want my wife\u2019s death to be a warning to others who get too comfortable and let their guard down even for a moment,\u201d he said. \u201cThat moment is all it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\nUSE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n