Tina Tintor’s friends light candles at a roadside memorial where she and her dog Max died in November, police say old Las Vegas Raiders player Henry Ruggs drove his car Escort ship at speeds up to 156 mph with a blood alcohol concentration twice the legal limit when he crashed into Tintor’s rear Toyota RAV4 at 120 mph. (Beautiful pictures)
WASHINGTON – The number of U.S. traffic deaths rose in the first nine months of 2021 to 31,720, the government reported on Tuesday, keeping a record pace of dangerous driving increases during the coronavirus pandemic.
The estimated number of deaths in motor vehicle crashes between January and September 2021 is 12% higher than the same period in 2020. This represents the highest percentage increase in the range of 9 months since the Ministry of Transport started recording fatal accident data in 1975.
The death toll of 31,720 is the highest number in nine months since 2006.
Federal data from the department National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that the number of traffic deaths has increased over the course of nine months in 38 states, led by western and southern states like Idaho, Nevada and Texas, and unchanged in the two states. This number is down in 10 states and the District of Columbia.
Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg pledged to help and launched a new national strategy last week aimed at reversing the trend. he calls a crisis. He told the Associated Press last week that his department over the next two years would provide federal guidance as well as billions of grants under President Joe Biden’s New Infrastructure Law to push states and localities to reduce speed limits and design safer roads, such as dedicated bike and bus lanes, better lighting, and crosswalks. This strategy also encourages the use of camera speedwhich the department said could provide fairer enforcement than police stopping traffic.
Buttigieg cites as well as safety benefits according to infrastructure law by building alternative modes of transportation to cars such as rail and public transport, “if only because all other modes of transport are safer”.
NHTSA also plan to continue building rules for automated emergency claims brake in all new passenger vehicles and sets new standards for safe car performance by emphasizing collision avoidance features such as lane-keeping assist, however no certain deadline is set act.
Traffic deaths began to spike in 2019. The NHTSA has blamed reckless driving behavior for fueling the pandemic, citing behavioral research showing that skirunning and traveling without a seat belt got higher. Before 2019, the death toll had fallen for three consecutive years.
“Humans make mistakes, but human mistakes are not always fatal. In a well-designed system, safety measures ensure that the inevitable human failure will not result in human death,” Buttigieg said Tuesday in a statement. “That’s what we’re going to do for America’s roads with the National Road Safety Strategy and the safety systems approach it adopts.”
Jonathan Adkins, executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents the state’s safety offices, described the latest figures as a “nightmare” but said the administration Biden seems to be taking the right approach in terms of broad safety measures.
“We have to do more work. Traffic enforcement should be part of the solution, he said, but we have to look at how we build our roads. We have to look at the whole system. “
