Traffic fatalities continued a multiquarter decline, hitting two straight years of decreases in the first quarter.

The 3% year-over-year drop translates to a fatality rate of 1.13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, down from 1.18 a year earlier, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

The downward trend comes even as vehicle miles traveled rise, albeit modestly in the first quarter at 0.6%.

Even with the decrease, first-quarter traffic crashes resulted in 8,650 deaths. The federal agency said it’s focused on cutting preventable fatalities. It cited 2023 initiatives, including a new U.S. requirement that automatic emergency braking come standard in passenger cars and light trucks by the fall of 2029.

On an individual state basis, it estimates that traffic deaths fell in the first quarter in 30 states and Puerto Rico, and were flat in one state but rose in 19 states and Washington, D.C.

DIG DEEPER: Distracted Driving Deaths Down But Not Out