increase in speeding

Just over a month into 2024, and road transportation authorities are already reporting record driving volumes across the United States. As historically seen, high rates of driving typically translate into a higher rate of car accidents.

According to the Department of Transportation, in 2023, US drivers took to the roads in record numbers, traveling 3.263 trillion miles. That was a significant increase of 2.1% and a new yearly record. Overall, according to transportation authorities, road travel across the country last year increased by 67.5 billion miles with an increase of 2.2% in December. Travel is back not just to pre – pandemic levels, but also higher than the levels recorded before 2020.

There have been a couple of solid reasons for the increase in vehicular traffic. Foremost has been the return to the workplace for many American workers. Employers are terminating their work from home phases, and companies are actively encouraging their employees to return to offices. In an uncertain job market, many employees have chosen to obey the call to return to the workplace, rather than insist on a work from home arrangement. That has meant more congested car traffic in Georgia and across the country. Holiday traffic in 2023 was also at significantly high volumes, and many Americans who had been limited by their ability to travel since 2020 chose to travel during holidays to meet family and friends. Adding to the desire to travel by road has been significantly lower gasoline prices. Low gas prices typically translate into higher road travel for Americans.

While there have been many theories for the disturbing rise in auto accident wrongful deaths across the country, one under examined factor is now under the scanner. Experts believe that a drop in police enforcement since just before the pandemic is possibly partly responsible for a spike in car accident deaths.

Car accident deaths in 2022 were as much as 18% higher than the numbers in 2019. They have continued to increase, spiking even during the pandemic when vehicular traffic volumes were at all time lows. During a time when American roads should have been safest, they were actually even more dangerous than before the pandemic with normal traffic volumes. This phenomenon was also uniquely American. Most Western countries did not report increases in car accident deaths during the pandemic. Many, in fact, actually saw a drop in car accident rates as a result of lockdowns and lower traffic volumes.

There have been a number of theories that have been espoused as reasons for the increase in car accident deaths in the United States. From an increase in speeding to larger volumes of distracted drivers, experts believe that a combination of factors has led to a spike in the number of people being killed in car accidents. However, one particular factor has not received a lot of attention and NPR recently addressed this. The report by NPR says that a drop in police enforcement across the country is at least partly responsible for the spike in car accident deaths.

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