That was my first thought, too: there was less driving during lockdowns, so perhaps this is a rebound effect? But it's not: U.S. miles-driven did reduce in 202

That was my first thought, too: there was less driving during lockdowns, so perhaps this is a rebound effect? But it's not: U.S. miles-driven did reduce in 2020, but road deaths increased during that year. The article links to a previous 2021 article[1] about this. "Thanks to the pandemic, Americans drove 13 percent fewer miles in 2020 than they did the year before. But the move to telework and lockdowns has not made our roads any safer. In fact, our roads got a lot more dangerous last year, according to preliminary data collected by the National Safety Council. The council estimates that 42,060 people were killed in crashes, an 8 percent increase from 2019. The rise looks even more shocking when normalized—it rose from 1.2 to 1.49 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, a 24 percent increase." [1] - https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/03/traffic-deaths-rose-8-percent-in-2020-despite-fewer-miles-travelled/ https://arstechnica.com/cars/2021/03/traffic-deaths-rose-8-p...