Over the same period, such deaths declined in most other developed nations, according to United Nations data.
From the WSJ article: https://www.wsj.com/us-news/the-deadly-1-5-mile-corridor-that-shows-the-fatal-flaw-in-americas-road-design-8f424579
They optimize the roads for speed because that means easy revenue from issuing speeding tickets to people moving at a rate that road has been optimized to handle. Unsafe driving practices are just opportunities for profit. Tail light out? You get pulled over, ticketed, and then released back onto the road still with a broken tail light, only now you have to both pay for the tail light and potentially the fine if you don't take time off work to go to court and get it waived.
Actually making the community safe isn't profitable.