Did you know that there are around 6 million car accidents in the United States every single year? With fewer drivers on the road this past year due to the pandemic, it raises the question – have car accident deaths gone down as well?
Keep reading to learn whether or not this is true.
Have There Been Less Car Accident Deaths?
The truth is – No. The death rates due to car accidents have been going up this past year and they believe that it might be because drivers are speeding more and hitting that gas pedal due to emptier roads. The hope when studies were being conducted, was for the death rate to decrease due to fewer people driving, but unfortunately, the opposite was true.
The good news is that there have been much fewer car accidents because there have been fewer people out driving but the accidents that are occurring are more deadly due to unsafe driving. This article goes into even more details about the crashes during the pandemic year.
We checked out a few states that have been reporting their car accidents and car deaths and here is what we found:
Austin
While Austin has seen a lower rate of collisions there has been a rise in traffic injuries. In March 2019, there were 450 crashes and 99 people injured. In 2020 the crashes went down to 381 but the number of injuries went up to 111.
Massachusetts
In Mas, the number of car crash deaths has gone down but the fatality rate for car crashes has been going up. Collisions in the Bay State between March 15 to April 1st went down to 38%.
What this translates to is that during the same time in 2019 if you were in a car accident the chances of dying were around 0.45% but in 2020 the chances were more like 1.05%.
Minnesota
In Minnesota, both car crashes and crash fatalities have doubled! Between March 16 and April 7 in 2020 there were 24 crashes and 28 deaths on the road compared to 12 crashes and 13 deaths in 2019. That is a 100% increase in collisions and a 115% increase in deaths.
New York City
In NYC, believe it or not, the number of fatalities has not really declined even though there are a lot fewer people driving. The vehicle miles reported went down by 80% compared to 2019 but the injuries pedestrians have had, have only gone down to 58%.
More motorists died between March 2nd and April 8th in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Feeling Like a 2020 Car Accident Pro?
We hope that now that you are familiar with how car accident deaths have been this pandemic year, you are feeling more knowledgable and we hope it has made you more aware while you are out on the road. Every time you hop in your car to drive make sure that you drive your safest and look out for unsafe drivers.
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