WP: Unsafe drivers made up larger share of motorists during pandemic, study says

[China]

 

Unsafe drivers made up larger share of motorists during pandemic, study says

 

Although there have been fewer cars on the road nationwide during the coronavirus pandemic, a study released Monday found that younger and riskier drivers were increasingly on the roads during a surge in traffic fatalities across the country.

 

The more dangerous drivers made up a small proportion of drivers overall, but they were likely to take the most risks as traffic levels were down, according to an AAA study. The study sought to understand why traffic deaths rose while driving was down at least 20 percent during much of 2020. During that time, crashes involving impairment, speeding, red-light running, aggressiveness and non-seatbelt usage spiked to their highest level in more than a decade, AAA said.

 

“We saw this small group of people who were driving more than they did before the pandemic were the same people who were the highest-risk drivers on the road,” said AAA senior researcher Brian Tefft.

 

Traffic fatalities jumped 12 percent to 31,700 deaths in the first nine months of 2021 compared with the same period in 2020 — the largest year-over-year rise since at least 1975, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In 2020, about 38,680 people died in vehicle crashes, the highest since 2007.

 

The District’s 40 traffic fatalities last year were the most since 2007, with nearly half occurring in Wards 7 and 8 generally east of the Anacostia River, a Washington Post analysis last week showed. Those two wards, the city’s poorest, contain less than one-quarter of Washington’s population. More than 4,000 people were injured last year, according to city data.

 

Click on the link for the full article

 

My recent experiences on the road agree with the results of this study.  I have encountered a lot more people doing stupid and/or reckless things, including driving on the wrong side of the road, making crazy illegal turns (sometimes right in front of me) and other nonsense.  When I snap I'm going to get one of these and start ramming people who do stupid crap in front of me:

 

[LD0506]

Dashcams are worth the $$

[China]

 

[China]

Boom in SUVs and pickups threatens pedestrians

 

The nation’s SUV and pickup boom is killing pedestrians.

 

Driving the news: Those larger vehicles are “substantially more likely than cars to hit pedestrians when making turns,” according to a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released Thursday.

 

6,516 pedestrians were killed in the U.S. in 2020, the latest full-year official numbers available, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

That was the highest since 1989.

And SUVs, minivans and pickups now represent about 4 in 5 new vehicle sales.

Of note: It's not just because there are more pickups and SUVs on the road than ever. Statistically, SUVs and pickups are involved in a greater percentage of "certain types" of pedestrian crashes than their share of total vehicles, according to IIHS.

 

IIHS researchers posited that the column separating the driver-side window and the windshield in SUVs and pickups might make it harder for drivers to see pedestrians when turning — especially when heading left.

“The size and shape of the A-pillar can sometimes obscure visibility of the places where pedestrians are when they're starting to cross,” IIHS Vice President of Research Jessica Cicchino, one of the study’s authors, tells Axios.

The big picture: The IIHS study adds to a growing body of evidence that SUVs and pickups are a major factor in the nation’s pedestrian safety crisis.

 

Studies had already shown that, when collisions occur, SUVs and pickups are more likely than cars to kill the pedestrians involved.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[redskinss]

I thought about starting a thread about road rage and the things that people do on the highway that irritate us.

Seems like it could be interesting getting others opinions on road situations since we have all these encounters everyday but when they happen all the communication is non verbal, aka a middle finger or a horn.

I drive a lot for work and out of all the things that piss me off the most there's probably one that stands out above all.

I drive a 2 lane highway to work everyday and it gets pretty congested but usually free flows most of the time.

We've all seen it, from time to time the fast lane is full and there's a couple hundred yard gap in the slow lane, why do some feel its their right to pull into the slow lane, smash the throttle, move up two or 3 spots and aggressively cut someone off to get back in the fast lane.

Nowhere else in society would anyone ever try this.

If you were standing in a buffet line and a gap formed between you and the person in front of you, nobody would move out of line, run up and quickly cut in front of you. 

Why do so many people act the way they do in cars and not anywhere else?

There are so many things people do on the highway that drive me crazy, I could go on forever. 

[China]

11 hours ago, redskinss said:

I thought about starting a thread about road rage and the things that people do on the highway that irritate us.

Seems like it could be interesting getting others opinions on road situations since we have all these encounters everyday but when they happen all the communication is non verbal, aka a middle finger or a horn.

I drive a lot for work and out of all the things that piss me off the most there's probably one that stands out above all.

I drive a 2 lane highway to work everyday and it gets pretty congested but usually free flows most of the time.

We've all seen it, from time to time the fast lane is full and there's a couple hundred yard gap in the slow lane, why do some feel its their right to pull into the slow lane, smash the throttle, move up two or 3 spots and aggressively cut someone off to get back in the fast lane.

Nowhere else in society would anyone ever try this.

If you were standing in a buffet line and a gap formed between you and the person in front of you, nobody would move out of line, run up and quickly cut in front of you. 

Why do so many people act the way they do in cars and not anywhere else?

There are so many things people do on the highway that drive me crazy, I could go on forever. 

 

A couple of comments:  It's the passing lane, not the fast lane.  Traffic is supposed to use the left lane to pass and then move back into the right lane when the pass is completed.  The reason you see big gaps in the right lane is because people don't move over after passing.  If they did it would allow other cars to move by and reduce how congested the left lane is.  Many people just get in the left lane and "camp out" figuring they're going fast enough so it's OK.  There are some states (Virginia being one of them) where riding in the left lane without passing is actually against the law.  Unfortunately, you never see this enforced.  

 

As to "Nowhere else is society would anyone ever try this."  I disagree.  People try it other places, such as when people try to cut in lines at events.  The difference is, when you are out in the open, people can call you out on it, whereas when you are in a car, there is no way to call someone out for their cutting.

 

Also, on a related note, when lanes merge, people shouldn't get over immediately, but rather use the full road space and go to the front and zipper merge.  People get annoyed at people moving to the front, but actually it is more efficient (uses more of the available roadway) and reduces backups when done properly.  

 

I agree that there are a lot of things on the road that drive me crazy, and I have noted that my anecdotal observations have seen an increase in poor driving since the pandemic started (also confirmed in the article above).

[redskinss]

3 minutes ago, China said:

A couple of comments:  It's the passing lane, not the fast lane.  Traffic is supposed to use the left lane to pass and then move back into the right lane when the pass is completed.  The reason you see big gaps in the right lane is because people don't move over after passing.  If they did it would allow other cars to move by and reduce how congested the left lane is.  Many people just get in the left lane and "camp out" figuring they're going fast enough so it's OK.  There are some states (Virginia being one of them) where riding in the left lane without passing is actually against the law.  Unfortunately, you never see this enforced

I'm not talking about left lane hogs though, that's a separate issue and one I agree with.

I'm referring to when traffic is heavily congested in both lanes but clearly flowing faster in the left lane and every so often a small gap forms in the right lane and somebody uses it to make a 2 or 3 car pass and badly cut someone off to get back in the left lane immediately. 

 

Some people just think that the one car gap you leave between you and the car in front of them is their's for the taking and it's annoying. 

 

[China]

1 hour ago, redskinss said:

I'm not talking about left lane hogs though, that's a separate issue and one I agree with.

I'm referring to when traffic is heavily congested in both lanes but clearly flowing faster in the left lane and every so often a small gap forms in the right lane and somebody uses it to make a 2 or 3 car pass and badly cut someone off to get back in the left lane immediately. 

 

Some people just think that the one car gap you leave between you and the car in front of them is their's for the taking and it's annoying. 

 

 

Yeah, that's just reckless driving.

[tshile]

2 hours ago, China said:

Many people just get in the left lane and "camp out" figuring they're going fast enough so it's OK. 

I scoot down I-95 in the right lane all the way past Richmond

 

everyone gets on and jets to the left lane. I fly by them on on the right. Idiots. 

[tshile]

2 hours ago, redskinss said:

Some people just think that the one car gap you leave between you and the car in front of them is their's for the taking and it's annoying. 

They’re not not smart enough to understand the ripple effects of individuals doing that creates a bigger mess. This is why self driving cars will be great - it’ll manage congestion significantly better 

 

that said, high speed highway congestion … like getting out of town for the weekend on a Friday… there’s definitely an art to tracking what’s going on quit a bit ahead and behind and bouncing between the faster moving lanes. I basically have spent majority of most summers turning a 3 hour trip with no traffic into a 3hour trip even in heavy traffic just keeping track.

 

[China]

Speeding is more common among people regularly exposed to content encouraging speeding

 

Speeding is more common among people regularly exposed to material encouraging speeding, our new study suggests.

 

Our research, published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, found self-reported exposure to content promoting or encouraging speeding on social media and mass media (e.g., movies, television or gaming) was higher in speeders compared to non-speeders.

 

Speeders also believed their friends more frequently engaged in speeding.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

We Can Cut Traffic Deaths in Half, But Nobody Wants To

 

This week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released preliminary data on the traffic fatalities recorded across the country in 2021. Old or young, driver or pedestrian, rural or urban, more Americans died in crashes in 2021 than at any time in the past 15 years.

 

Fatalities rose to nearly 43,000 in 2021, a 10.5-percent increase over 2020 — and the quickest single-year jump in fatalities NHTSA has ever recorded since its founding 47 years ago. The year before wasn’t much better: While many of us stayed off the roads during COVID lockdowns, 2020 saw 38,824 fatalities — a 6.7-percent increase in deaths despite a 22-percent decrease in reported crashes.

 

Any time we talk about traffic fatalities, all sorts of possible solutions get thrown out there. U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg cited measures in the recently passed infrastructure law as well as policies in the newly launched National Roadway Safety Strategy as steps the government was taking to curb deaths.

 

But the National Roadway Safety Strategy merely exists as a .pdf document full of statistics and vague ideas about safety requirements. The infrastructure bill’s best efforts at improving road safety come down to incentives to redesign dangerous roads, and changes in safety requirements for automakers. Neither one of those can be implemented with any speed.

 

There has to be a quicker way to cut down on all these deaths. And indeed there is. NHTSA cites this statistic in its 2020 traffic fatality report:

 

Quote

In 45% of fatal crashes, the drivers of passenger vehicles were engaged in at least one of the following risky behaviors: speeding, alcohol impairment, or not wearing a seat belt.

 

The uncomfortable truth is, we could all but eliminate deaths via drunk driving, speeding and lax seat belt use — nearly half of all car crash fatalities — with technology that has been readily available for decades. But we don’t, because they present, at worst, a mild inconvenience.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

I don't know WTF is wrong with people these days. I just had two people, within the span of 5 minutes make a left hand turn in front of me as if I weren't there, making me brake and lay on the horn in both cases.   Grrrrr.

[Ball Security]

33 minutes ago, China said:

I don't know WTF is wrong with people these days. I just had two people, within the span of 5 minutes make a left hand turn in front of me as if I weren't there, making me brake and lay on the horn in both cases.   Grrrrr.

With you as the oncoming traffic, correct?  I had an incident 10+ years ago where someone made a left in front of me.  No big deal.  However the car behind them did the exact same thing and hit me.  They were turning onto the toll road and took off.  Hit and run.  The police contacted me later and said her husband called it in.  (She was pregnant). I went to the police station to pick up paper work for insurance purposes and the clerk pointed me to a woman who was leaving and said that’s the woman who hit you.  I talked to her in the parking lot and she had the nerve to say to me, “if you saw me, why didn’t you stop?” 😡😳🤣

[Corcaigh]

I had an incident yesterday where someone crossed over their stop line and blocked the main road. And then looked pissed at me for having the right of way.

 

Unfortunately I wasn’t driving a cement truck.

 

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Corcaigh

[ClaytoAli]

Does driving with your knees count?
 

I don’t have hand sanitizer in the car.

Edited July 26, 2022 by ClaytoAli

[skinsmarydu]

2 hours ago, China said:

I don't know WTF is wrong with people these days. I just had two people, within the span of 5 minutes make a left hand turn in front of me as if I weren't there, making me brake and lay on the horn in both cases.   Grrrrr.

This very thing happened to me about 20 minutes ago...dude went around the cars in the left turn lane & turned in front of everyone!  I couldn't figure out if he was trying to kill himself or what, but I managed to brake in time. 

Grrr, indeed. 

[China]

Race, Class and Traffic Deaths

 

Vehicle crashes seem as if they might be an equal-opportunity public health problem. Americans in every demographic group drive, after all. If anything, poor families tend to rely more on public transportation and less on car travel.

 

Yet vehicle deaths turn out to be highly unequal. Lower-income people are much more likely to die in crashes, academic research shows. The racial gaps are also huge — even bigger on a percentage basis than the racial gaps on cancer, according to the C.D.C.

 

The unequal toll from crashes is particularly notable now because the U.S. is experiencing an alarming increase in vehicle deaths. Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary, recently called it “a national crisis of fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways.” And the toll is falling most heavily on lower-income Americans and Black Americans.

 

The reasons for the increase remain somewhat mysterious, experts say. But the consequences are clear. More than 115 Americans have been dying on the roads on average every day this year.

 

Today’s newsletter will explore the likely explanations for the increase, as well as its unequal impact and the potential solutions.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

The Most Dangerous Road in Each State

 

America is a nation of roads. In many ways, roads keep us connected, weaving into one another, allowing us to freely pass state lines. Roads allow us to visit family, travel to new places, and take in the country as a whole. Zipping down the highway in an automobile can be one of the most relaxing weekend experiences, provided you are on the right path. 

 

While there are plenty of safe roads to travel with gorgeous views to behold, there are other roads where you need to be a lot more vigilant. Some roads, you may even want to avoid entirely if you can help it. We've compiled a list of the most dangerous roads in the country, based on the average number of fatalities that occur each year. Many of these roads are extremely busy, making fatal crashes inevitable. Remember that Robert Frost took the road less traveled by. Why? Because he knew the other one would kill him! 

 

West Virginia – US 19
The US 19 stretch in West Virginia is truly brutal. The state saw 101 crashes over 10 years and 111 fatalities. Taking these numbers into consideration, the average number of people killed on US Route 19 is 11.

 

Maryland – US 1
The US Route 1 is the longest North-South road in the country at 2,369 miles. At that length, surely the death totals must be high?

 

Virginia – US 460
The US Route 460 stretches for 655 miles, from Virginia to Kentucky. With that said, the number of fatalities in this somewhat small stretch will surprise you.

 

Pennsylvania – Interstate 80
You missed it, so it's back on the list! The I-80 highway is a danger to the 11.5 people who are killed each year.

 

California – Interstate 40
Knowing California is the most populated state in the country, you might expect there to be more crashes there than anywhere else – especially with all the traffic jams. However, in California, you have to drive everywhere, so all the driving experience must be the reason for all the relatively low fatalities.

 

Click on the link for the rest

[China]

More proof that drivers have no idea of how wide their cars are:

 

 

 

I'd love to see them put some width restrictions on some US streets and see the carnage.

[RansomthePasserby]

2 hours ago, China said:

More proof that drivers have no idea of how wide their cars are:

 

 

 

I'd love to see them put some width restrictions on some US streets and see the carnage.

Wow, this is an insane design! They clearly didn’t make it wide enough if people are crashing into the curb going 5 MPH. They’re also enticing people to bypass it in both directions through the bus lane risking a head on collision. Traffic calming is good, but this is a hilariously horrible application of it.

[China]

States With the Most Confrontational Drivers, Ranked

 

Any driver these days has to potentially deal with the very rude behavior of other drivers. A new Forbes Advisor survey shows that some states’ drivers are more aggressive than others.

 

We analyzed 10 key metrics from a survey of 5,000 drivers across the nation to identify the states with the most confrontational drivers.

 

• Utah tops the list of states with the most confrontational drivers.
• More than 1 in 5 drivers have seen someone cause an accident due to road rage.
• 23% of drivers know of someone in their state that has become injured in a road rage incident.

1    Utah    
2    Missouri    
3    Colorado    
4    Oklahoma    
5    New Mexico    
6    Nevada    
7    Maryland   
8    Indiana    
9    Washington   
10    Delaware   

 

16.  W. Virginia

 

23.  California

 

44.  Virginia

 

Click on the link for more

[LD0506]

"Honked at me" is one of the metrics?

 

Maybe if some of the dumb****s could go more than ten seconds without playing with their phone they wouldn't have people honking at them sitting thru a green light

[TK]

On 8/28/2022 at 1:26 PM, China said:

The Most Dangerous Road in Each State

Virginia – US 460
The US Route 460 stretches for 655 miles, from Virginia to Kentucky. With that said, the number of fatalities in this somewhat small stretch will surprise you.

I'd have put money on this being 81, not 460.

[China]