Mandy Shatney, manager of the Data and Analytics Section in the Operations and Safety Bureau at VTrans, told the Senate Transportation Committee on Jan. 8 that Vermont’s provisional crash data show a slight rise in fatalities and a sustained increase in serious injuries.

“The fatal crash data is still not finalized,” Shatney said, noting that toxicology and other year‑end processes can take up to 720 hours after Dec. 31 to complete. She told senators she expanded the usual five‑year snapshot to a 10‑year view to illustrate trends and to reduce statistical fluctuation.

The data presentation showed Vermont’s annual fatality totals dipped to 47 in 2019 and climbed to 76 in 2022. Shatney said the department uses a five‑year rolling average—standard practice nationally—to smooth year‑to‑year variation. For the 2024–25 comparison, she reported a small net increase in fatalities (a difference of roughly two) and highlighted increases in impaired‑driver and unbelted fatalities. Pedestrian and motorcyclist fatalities also rose modestly.

Shatney cautioned that toxicology results for December crashes remain incomplete and could change some category counts, but said toxicology reports—mostly blood tests—show roughly 60% of drivers in fatal crashes tested positive for impairment among the cases with results available. She told the committee that toxicology is usually available only for fatal or serious crashes and asked senators to treat current drug‑category numbers as provisional.

Committee members pressed on several technical and policy points. Senators asked the department to provide vehicle‑miles‑traveled (VMT)‑adjusted fatality rates to account for the COVID‑era drop in miles driven; Shatney confirmed VMT fell sharply in 2020 and said the department tracks both national and state fatal‑crash rates. She also agreed to supply five‑year increment comparisons and regional peer data—members singled out neighboring New England states and Rhode Island as a frequent comparator.

The briefing identified reporting and data‑quality issues that complicate interpretation. Shatney said total reported crashes to the department fell from roughly 10,000–14,000 in prior years to about 7,000 in 2024 because of reporting‑policy changes and inconsistent law‑enforcement submissions. She described recent outreach and training for officers and noted a statute obligates operators to report crashes to DMV; law‑enforcement agencies must report crashes they investigate.

On occupant protection, Shatney said more than half of occupants who had the option to wear a seat belt were unbelted in the relevant fatal‑crash cases. Senators asked whether primary enforcement of belt laws (versus Vermont’s current secondary enforcement) would change outcomes; Shatney said she would compile comparable state data.

Wade Cochran, director of enforcement and safety at the DMV, summarized commercial‑vehicle activity: his team logged 152 commercial‑vehicle crashes for the year, responded to 87, and recorded four fatalities (three crashes, including one double fatality). Cochran said the department is able to perform detailed commercial‑vehicle follow‑ups and will confirm whether recent federal or company rules require in‑cab/out‑facing cameras or speed‑limiting settings for certain interstate commercial trucks.

Senators requested follow‑up briefings and datasets including VMT‑normalized fatality rates, a five‑year rolling comparison by category, toxicology lab perspective on testing changes over time, judicial bureau enforcement and ticketing data, and contacts for the Vermont Highway Safety Alliance and AARP’s older‑driver programs. Shatney and Cochran agreed to provide the requested materials and to invite relevant agencies to future meetings.

The committee did not take formal action at the session’s close; staff said they would return with the requested analyses and additional agency witnesses.