High Risk Drivers Cause Jump in Traffic Fatalities
MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- The COVID pandemic changed a lot of things and the increase of traffic fatalities is one of them.
According to AAA spokesperson, Kimberly Schwind, Americans reduced their driving in 2020 due to the pandemic, however, 38,680 people died in vehicle crashes in the same year making it the largest number of fatalities since 2007.
The AAA foundation for Traffic Safety conducted a study to better understand this increase in dangerous driving behaviors.
“What the study found was that while most people were driving less, especially during the early stages of the pandemic in 2020, a small percentage of drivers, just 4 percent of drivers, were actually driving more. This 4 percent of drivers were younger, they were disproportionately males and they were statistically riskier than the average population,” Schwind stated.
Drivers who were asked what risk they took in the last 30 days stated risky behaviors like speeding on residential streets, reading text messages while driving, running red lights on purpose and more.
The study did not look at why they initially increased their driving around that time, but looked at their composition on the road and the risk the drivers were taking.
“So travel in Ohio in 2020 was down about 12.5 percent according to the Ohio Department of Transportation, but traffic deaths rose 7 percent compared to 2019 so we saw a reduction in the number of people on the roadway, but a huge increase in the number of traffic fatalities,” Schwind said. “So what this study shows is that while most people did reduce their driving in 2020, those that are the riskiest drivers actually increased their driving so we had more people on the roadways that were taking risks. ”
Schwind talked about how AAA is in support of implementing the Safe System Approach that creates multiple layers of protection for transportation network users beforehand.
In the meantime, drivers should work to reduce the number of risks and obey all traffic laws.
