Why Do We Keep Killing Ourselves in Highway Accidents?

Al Ritter

In 2020 highways deaths declined because of the lockdowns from Covid. 2021 picked up where 2019 left off and now some 47,000 highway deaths are rivalling gun deaths, but the question is why?

There are several contributing factors, let’s investigate a few. Americans drive more miles per year on the average than any other civilized country. It stands to reason, the more you drive the more chance you have of being in an accident. Sadly that factor includes auto fatalities.

Another factor is decreased Police traffic stops. Think back to all the Police traffic stops that escalated into fatal confrontations in the last 15 years or so. I’m certain that the powers to be in the Police Department have handed down orders to decrease the amount of traffic stops for that very reason. Sadly just like in the defund police movement less enforcement equals more traffic violations that go unpunished.

This is a pet peeve of mine. There isn’t a 5 mile drive on our beltway that I don’t see two non-descript foreign compacts with blacked out windows weaving in and out of congested traffic at speed approaching 100 mph. Where are the Police when such scenarios unfold? The only time I see a State or County Police car on the beltway anymore is at the scene of an accident. Think about your area and if you have seen a Police Car issuing a traffic citation on a major beltway.

This doesn’t even address the extremely dangerous traffic violation of tailgating which I see constantly both on major highways and side roads.

I asked a State Police friend of mine once how many aggressive driving citations they write yearly. He slowly shook his head and said not many. The requirements of that charge are hard to prove, 5 violations within 1 mile. He said it is far easier to write a ticket for negligent driving, so most cops don’t bother.

I see aggressive driving and distracted driving (cell phone use) while driving more from women under 30 than any other group now.

Just recently we had 6 highway construction workers killed by two cars at speeds approaching 100 mph in a construction zone. Both were weaving in and out of traffic racing each other. One was a male in his 20’s and the other was a female in her early 50’s. The female was found to have drugs in her system at the time of the accident.

Sadly situations like this happen daily all over this nation, and until police start cracking down on traffic violations these deaths will continue to increase.

Read more here:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-do-so-many-americans-keep-dying-in-traffic-accidents-090009184.html

Track highway deaths in Maryland here, see the causes and see the areas, make your own decisions:

https://zerodeathsmd.gov/resources/crashdata/crashdashboard/