Posted on 08/09/2021 9:11:14 AM PDT by karpov
Motorists put the pedal to the metal during the pandemic and police are worried as roads get busy with the final stretch of summer travel.
The latest data shows the number of highway deaths in 2020 was the greatest in more than a decade even though cars and trucks drove fewer miles during the pandemic.
“Summer is an incredibly dangerous time. And it culminates with Labor Day, that last hurrah,” said Pam Shadel Fischer of the Governors Highway Safety Association.
Traffic data indicates the higher death toll was related to higher average speeds in conjunction with more of those on the roads driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and a slight decline in seatbelt use.
Motorists do not seem to be slowing down.
“People are flying down the roads,” Maine State Police Cpl. Doug Cropper said of summer traffic on Interstate 95. “It’s just ridiculous.”
Tickets issued by the California Highway Patrol for speeding in excess of 100 mph from January to June were nearly double pre-pandemic levels, and the number of tickets for reckless driving citations grew, as well, officials said.
In New York state, the percentage of fatalities for which speeding was the primary cause and the total number of speeding tickets grew from January through June, compared to the year before the pandemic, officials said.
...
The extreme speeding dates to the early days of the pandemic.
With police distracted by civil disobedience and scaling back routine stops for safety, the lightly traveled roads quickly turned into the wild west in many places. In New York City, super cars like Ferraris and Lamborghinis blazed down empty streets, with roaring engines disturbing residents trying to sleep. Motorists from coast to coast were ticketed at eye-watering speeds.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Interesting statistics from the National Highway Safety Transportation Board
The worst single increase in deaths from 2019 to 2020 is 23 percent more black people being killed.
Non-Hispanic Black fatalities, as a proportion of all fatalities, increased in most months from March to December. The greatest increase occurred in June (20% [black share in 2020] versus 15% [in 2019]). Total estimated Non-Hispanic Black fatalities increased by 23 percent from 2019 to 2020.
In contrast, among everybody else, road deaths were up less than 4 percent in 2020.
Then over the last seven months of 2020, 4,995 blacks died in traffic accidents compared with 3,660 during the same period in 2019, a worsening of 36 percent.
In social science terms, that’s an enormous increase.
“Defunding Police” has consequences - for blacks themselves.
My son is an officer in our small town and last year unless people were reckless or just over the top with their speed they were told not to make contact because of covid. Now they still think they can burn the road up still. Officers are starting to write a few tickets to try and get people to slow down to sane speeds through the middle of town but there hasn’t been a slew of tickets written for speeding. My son is finding an absolute crap load of drivers with no insurance and no valid drivers license.
Speed Racer - DJ Keoki Trance Rave Hardhouse Club Fast Mix
I can still hear the hot rods out there in the middle of the night, revving it up and running through the gears but no sirens...not yet, anyway. There are probably still 6 weeks to go before owners put their big boy toys away for the winter.
BLM and Antifa operating with impunity have brought anarchy.
NO respect for law.
Instead of fighting crime, cops are required to function as tax collectors. In some places, that's now their only function.
Revenues are down, so traffic violation enforcement is up.
I routinely drive speed limit +10 mph on the Big Road.
A recent trip FRom Jax to PA & back proved to me that +10 only gets you run over more slowly!
The good news is that there were not so many rude, crude and obnxious drivers out and about as I have experienced in the past. Lotta fast and semi-dangerous drivers, though.
My plan, had I been stopped for speeding was to claim “Defensive speeding, Officer, to keep FRom getting run over!”
The bad news is there are too many cars & trucks and NOT ENOUGH ROAD!
I seriously doubt that the Nation’s two-lane interstate highways will be three (needs four!) laned anytime soon, but where there were more than two lanes, traffic flowed pretty well.
The “transportation” portion of the Sloe Joe & The Hoes “infrastructure bill” will, no doubt, be spent on one of AOc’s stupid, unworkable, undoable new green deal thingie.
The only solution is a complete police state.
Legalization of weed has more to do with this than CoupFlu.
“Instead of fighting crime, cops are required to function as tax collectors. In some places, that’s now their only function.
Revenues are down, so traffic violation enforcement is up.”
When they say it’s not about the money - of course it’s all about the money.
Got a $5 speeding ticket (oops, energy conservation ticket) for going 70 on a stretch of deserted Montana interstate in the mid 1970’s when the national speed limit was 55 mph. Years later the speed limit there was “Reasonable and Prudent” so you could legally drive the same stretch over 90 mph if you and your vehicle could handle it and driving conditions were good. Now it’s 80 mph. You make the call.
We need more ‘common sense car control’. These cars need to be taken off the street in order to stop all the ‘car violence’. C’ Mon man!
“Motorists from coast to coast were ticketed at eye-watering speeds”
Huh? a. I’ve never had my eyes water just because I was going 100mph in my car - if in a convertible and/or windows down - then 40mph will do it. It’s the wind, baby.
b. they really were ticketed at those incredible speeds? you mean the cops drove alongside them and wrote them up and yelled for them to roll down the window and amazingly extended a long stick out and in with the ticket clipped on it? Amazing.
Traffic accident victim arrives in the ER. Doc tries to save him but is unsuccessful. Nurse to Doc: "Cause of death?" Doc: "Better put down COVID; that's what the CDC wants".
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