Minority groups, including blacks and Hispanic Americans, seem to have been disproportionately affected by the increase in fatal car accidents recorded across the country during the pandemic.
According to new studies, black and Hispanic Americans as well as people with lower educational attainment were the most likely to suffer an impact from the increase in auto accidents between 2020 and 2022. This period of time recorded a significant increase in car accidents with new research from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety stating that as many as 114,000 people were killed in auto accidents between May 2020 and December 2022. This was a staggering 17% jump in the fatality numbers from before the pandemic.
Teens between the ages of 16 and 19 took the top spot in auto accident wrongful deaths. Overall, young persons between the ages of 20 and 24 also recorded very high increases in car accident numbers during this time. Male drivers were also much more likely to suffer fatal personal injuries in auto accidents between 2020 and 2022, exceeding estimates by as much as 14%.