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Thinking about this harder, maybe it's all nothingburger.
After all, compared to 10 and 20 years ago, distracted driving rates are way up, vehicle performance is way up (cars have turbochargers they didn't have before, and cars with 400+ horsepower doing 0-60 in 4 seconds didn't exist below 50,000 USD until just a few years ago), blind spots are way bigger, night driving is even more difficult, and the average vehicle is both heavier and taller.
Because of those things we should expect harder and more deadlier crashes.
But that's not what the data shows. Compared to 10 years ago, the rate of traffic fatalities in the US dropped by a quarter (per mile travelled). So if all of those things actually did increase fatalities significantly, and it seems like a reasonable thing to assume would increase, our safety standards are clearly outpacing any and all of the negative effects they have (and to think that the average car on the road today, being made in 2010, doesn't even have the infotainment systems that allow you to send a text without looking down).
So maybe the best solution really is "nothing, just have more and more technology to make distracted and high-speed driving safer and safer available at lower and lower pricepoints". I'm not that happy with that because those safety standards make me feel I'm more likely to cause an accident because of reduced visibility inherent to those safety standards (extra-thick A pillers, huge blindspots) and all that tech getting damaged makes collision repair far more expensive, but clearly they're having a positive effect in aggregate so maybe I'm complaining too much about it.
The US saw over 40,000 traffic fatalities in 2021 and car crashes are one of the leading causes of death for young people. This hardly seems like a nothingburger (do you think crime is a nothingburger? Homicides are something like half that or less).
What data? The table in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year seems to show either flat or slightly increasing deaths per million VMT, depending on whether you're looking before or after the pandemic as your end point. It's even worse if you look at pedestrian deaths, which are way up. And heavy SUVs are contributing to this trend.
Certain technological innovations have improved the ability of vehicles to either alert the driver or protect them in case of a crash. Also, as 2020 showed, congestion can reduce automobile fatalities. These developments are offsetting the effects you mention, but that doesn't mean that distracted driving and heavier vehicles aren't a problem.
Based on the data I've seen, the aggregate effect is negative, but also there's no need to couple these things. Repeal CAFE, make narrower lanes and smaller parking spots, add traffic calming, harsher penalties for distracted or reckless driving leading to injury, maybe even tax heavier vehicles.
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