Sarah Risser was in the passenger seat as her son, Henry Zietlow, drove them from Minnesota to Michigan for a ski trip. They were on a Wisconsin highway when an oncoming pickup towing too much weight veered into their lane.
Sarah survived the collision. Henry did not. He was 18 years old.
It’s a horrific story, but Risser knows it’s also a common one. In 2021, nearly 43,000 people died in motor vehicle crashes in the U.S. — a 10.5% increase from 2020. The NHTSA hasn’t recorded fatalities that high since 2005.
Yet in some parts of the country, efforts born from both tragedy and political will have seen the numbers move in a different direction. And in Hoboken, N.J., there hasn’t been a single traffic death in four years.
