The final data released by the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has revealed a sharp rise of 7.2% in traffic death in 2015.

The data revealed that nearly 35,092 people lost their life in traffic accidents last year, the first such increase in 50 years. In 1966, road deaths in the US rose 8.1% from the previous year.

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said: “Despite decades of safety improvements, far too many people are killed on our nation’s roads every year.

"Some of the factors that led to an increase in the number of road casualties are job growth, low fuel prices, increased leisure driving and driving by young people."

“Solving this problem will take teamwork, so we're issuing a call to action and asking researchers, safety experts, data scientists, and the public to analyse the fatality data and help find ways to prevent these tragedies.”

In response to the increasing road traffic deaths, DOT, NHTSA, and the White House have called on a wide range of stakeholders to help determine the causes of the increase and to seek ways to improve safety on the roads.

As part of this, NHTSA will be sharing its Fatality Analysis Reporting System with safety partners, state and local officials, technologists, data scientists, and policy experts.

Additionally, private sector partners will use new data collection technologies to offer access to unprecedented amounts of data and new visualisations tools.

According to the NHTSA, some of the factors that led to an increase in the number of road casualties are job growth, low fuel prices, increased leisure driving and driving by young people.

The NHTSA also noted that human factors such as passengers not wearing seat belts, drunk drivers or speeding and distraction while driving could have contributed to the increase in deaths.

In 2015, vehicle miles travelled (VMT) increased 3.5% over 2014, the largest increase in nearly 25 years.

NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind said: “The data tell us that people die when they drive drunk, distracted, or drowsy, or if they are speeding or unbuckled.

“NHTSA will be sharing its Fatality Analysis Reporting System with safety partners, state and local officials, technologists, data scientists, and policy experts.

“While there have been enormous improvements in many of these areas, we need to find new solutions to end traffic fatalities.”