Motor Vehicle Accident Injuries And Fatalities During COVID-19 Pandemic

This COVID-19 pandemic has changed the world in an instant. Many people lost their jobs, businesses went bankrupt, the economy went down, and more. The other one that has changed a lot is traveling. Unnecessary trips were restricted in which resulted in fewer vehicles on the road. Based on the Federal Highway Administrations’ data, there’s a decrease of 13.2% or 430 billion miles on vehicle miles traveled in 2020. The traffic situation is better and very different from the stressful situation before. We’re hoping that there will be fewer motor vehicle accident injuries and fatalities, but it’s not.

In 2020, even people drove less, there was an estimated 38,680 fatalities due to motor vehicle accidents. According to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there’s a 7.2% increase in cases from 2019. It’s the highest number of MVA death cases since 2007. NHTSA’s study shows that the increase in auto accidents is due to speeding, not wearing a seat belt, and DUI.

How COVID-19 Pandemic Influenced Motor Vehicle Accident Statistics?

Aside from the effects of COVID-19 in the world economy, this pandemic affected people’s driving in many ways. The increased percentage of auto accidents during the pandemic period shows that COVID-19 is a direct and indirect factor to this.

Driving Reckless

Due to the fewer cars on the road, reckless drivers see this as an opportunity. These drivers think that they could do what they want since the road seems empty for them. These irresponsible actions on the road are the cause of the increased number of accidents. Not just the reckless drivers, but other innocent motorists might have been involved as well.

Drowsiness Due To Medicines

Taking up medications for the symptoms or for the COVID-19 itself also affects your driving. Since there is still no proven medicine for COVID-19, people medicate using drugs for colds, fever, and cough which have a side effect of drowsiness. Taking up these kinds of medicines before or while driving could affect your concentration on the road.

Learn more and continue reading this article in our website blog at https://freewaylaw.com/motor-vehicle-accident-injuries-and-fatalities-during-covid-19-pandemic/.

Originally published at https://freewaylaw.com on August 4, 2021.