Georgia Injury Law Blog

A new report finds that many county-maintained roads in Georgia have been chronically undermaintained and in poor shape, increasing the risk of accidents for motorists travelling on these roads.

That information was published in a recent report by transportation research non-profit group, TRIP. The group recently released a report titled Moving Georgia Forward: Road and Bridge Conditions, Traffic Safety, Travel Trends and Funding Needs in the Atlanta region. The group conducted a survey of a number of counties in the state starting from 2019 and ending in 2020, specifically focusing on the condition of the transportation network of the state. The survey found that as many as 22% of roads in Georgia that are maintained by counties, are in substandard condition.

Not only are these roads in poor condition, but there also does not seem to be any hurry to get these roads fixed any time soon. Funding shortages will only ensure that many of these roads will continue to be deficient well into 2021 and beyond. At the current funding rate, only approximately 12% of the total number of miles of roads that are in need of repair work, including resurfacing, will be fixed in 2020. Overall, only 52% of the total amount of funding that is required to fix the entire network of county-maintained roads, is available for use. Hundreds of thousands of people use these county roads on a regular basis, and when these roads are poorly maintained and unsafe, they pose a serious risk of accidents to motorists.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is kick-starting its annual seat belt enforcement campaign, even as a bill that would require all occupants of a car in Georgia to be buckled in remains pending.

The current bill pending in the Senate would require that all occupants of a vehicle, including any adults in the back seat, remain buckled while the car is in motion.  This bill was introduced in 2019, and has a lot of support from lawmakers who believe that it is important for all occupants in a car to receive equal protection against injuries and the possible risk of death in an accident.  If this bill is ultimately be passed and becomes law, Georgia will join the list of states that now require all motorists and passengers to be buckled in while driving, without exception.

Currently, the law in Georgia requires only front seat passengers to wear seat belts.  The law applies only to minor back seat passengers below the age of 17. Adult passengers in the back seat are exempt from the law.

As the number of older American increases, so does the number of elderly drivers out on the roadways.  Older drivers above the age of 70 are much safer now on the roads that they used to be. However, several factors, including a slowness to adopt newer auto technologies, could be working against them, and could expose them to the risk of accidents.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety recently published the results of a study that focused on how accident rates for seniors have actually dropped over the past few years. The study focused on the period between 2009 and 2017, and found that during the first half of the study, the rates of car accidents involving seniors actually dropped.

That may not be all good news, however. The first half of the study period coincided with the Great Recession, and that was the time when there was a drop in the rates of all types of auto accidents. During the latter half of the study, accident rates involving seniors stayed consistent, while accident rates involving middle-aged drivers started increasing again.

The pandemic has required many to stay at home from work and school, leaving far few vehicles on the roads,  However, contrary to expectations, the number of highway accident deaths in the United States actually increased significantly during the first half of 2020. This was in spite of the lower traffic volumes during the pandemic.

As the Covid-19 pandemic began spreading across the United States, many states including Georgia imposed shelter-in-place orders, discouraging travel, and shutting down businesses. This led to significant drops in traffic volumes from March right through June this year.

That should typically have resulted in lower accident death rates. This, however, has not happened. If anything, the highway fatality rate has actually increased. According to the National Safety Council, there has been a significant 20% increase in the number of highway accident deaths in the first 6 months of 2020, compared to the same period of time in 2019. This increase has occurred even in the face of lower traffic volumes, as a result of the pandemic. The highway accident death rate has increased even though there was a 17% drop in the number of miles travelled by American motorists in the first 6 months of 2020.