Soaring Auto Fatality Rates

General General Discussion
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If you thought people were driving like bigger D bags then ever, it’s not just your imagination. After dropping for almost 20 years, it’s way up. Stay safe out there!

Soaring US traffic deaths becoming a ‘public safety crisis’ as fatalities hit 15-year high in first half of 2021

DETROIT — The number of U.S. traffic deaths in the first six months of 2021 hit 20,160, the highest first-half total since 2006, the government reported Thursday, a sign of growing reckless driving during the coronavirus pandemic.

The estimated number was 18.4% higher than the first half of last year, prompting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to call the increase an unacceptable crisis.

That percentage increase was the biggest six-month increase since the department began recording fatal crash data since 1975.

The department, which includes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, announced that it will develop a national strategy for steps to save lives on the roads.

“We cannot and should not accept these fatalities as simply a part of everyday life in America,” Buttigieg said in a statement Thursday. “No one will accomplish this alone. It will take all levels of government, industries, advocates, engineers and communities across the country working together toward the day when family members no longer have to say good-bye to loved ones because of a traffic crash.”

Vehicles are piled up after a fatal crash on Interstate 35 near Fort Worth, Texas on Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. The massive crash involving 75 to 100 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate killed some and injured others, police said, as a winter storm dropped freezing rain, sleet and snow on parts of the U.S.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/29/us-traffic-deaths-way-up-reckless-driving-blamed-feds/6201797001/

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The biggest issue we are seeing in the Midwest is cell phone use while driving. It’s killed a few motorcycle riders locally since May.

If you don’t see drivers approaching an intersection with their heads up, you proceed with extreme caution.

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Solve America’s Vehicle Control Crisis now.

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Was just riding my motorcycle Sunday, nearly home. Beat-up F150 pulls onto road, and is not staying in its lane. I end up passing the guy in a 4-lane-wide section, keeping an eye on him, and he was simultaneously lighting a cigarillo (? could be marijuana thanks to Michigan) and texting on his phone. TEXTING, not talking. No hands on wheel. Guy looked like the trashiest redneck too, beyond SNL parody level.

Then I had a different F150, later model, pull out in front of me from McDonald’s, change their mind and stay in center lane but accelerate to traffic sped (45mph), hesitate and swerve on whether they’re going to then shove in front of me. WTF.

I love riding but am just about to give up street riding. The idiocy level is too high. And I’m in a remote and rural area - the biggest town is 10k people.

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In my area and most to be honest everyone is a hurry, 10mph over the speed limit, weaving in and out, can’t use a round a bout. Anyways I wish everyone would slow down. 70 vs 60 on a 30 mile commute is gonna save you what, 2 or 3 minutes? The cell phone issue is huge too.

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I torture myself by watching the local news too much, and YES! High speed stupidity is rampant. I don’t know why, but it’s there. Idiots treat driving like it’s a video game or something.

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This will fit well with the narrative to ban assault vehicles and the internal combustion engine.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

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“NHTSA found at least 13 auto-safety rules past due, including a rear seat belt reminder requirement passed by Congress in 2012.”

The seat belt reminder in my Toyota Tundra has been flashing for 22 years and nearly 300k miles. Damn fine bulb.

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In my area ( SC and GA ) , the level of stupidity and incompetence is astounding . Ive raced on circle tracks , dirt and asphalt , and have also done road racing and some squirt racing ( drag racing ) and held an SCCA National license , so Im used to high speeds . However , what Im seeing is really scary . I dont mind going 100mph + six feet off someones bumper with someone else behind me doing the same on the track ...... because these guys know what theyre doing .
I run anywhere from 5 to 10 over the limit just to keep from getting run over and have gotten off the Interstate several times to let a pack of morons go past me . By pack , I mean 5 to 10 cars bumper to bumper running 85 to 90 and also on their cell phones .
There is absolutely no way they could respond if someone made a mistake or hit their brakes suddenly .
Im starting to spend more time on the back roads even though it takes longer to get where Im going . The scenery is much better and I`m not as stressed out as much now .

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I have defaulted to assuming that everyone I encounter is crazy.
Everyones has always been crazy, the lockdown just enhanced it a bit. You may find my methods for avoiding people handy to have, but they are essential while on the road.
Keep your head in the game, don’t become distracted, mind your manners, drive like you want to make it home and above all, watch out for everyone else on the road.
Don’t get angry, it’s not worth it, just stay heads up and make it home.

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I drive a lot for work, and I have definitely seen a steady increase in aggressive driving, and general douchebaggery, in about the last 3 years. Combine that with the fact that about 60% of the people are texting and 30 to 40 % of them shouldn’t be driving a Hot Wheels car, and it’s gotten to be no fun at all. If this keeps up, the chase scene from Road Warrior is gonna look like a pleasant Sunday drive to church.

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The amount of people I’ve seen completely staring at their phones in the last few months has been insane. I’ve noticed a huge increase and I’m not sure why.

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I would say that the majority of auto accidents are related to a driver being on a cell phone. When I’m driving around, I make it a purpose to kinda look at people to see who is on a cell phone while driving. Seems to me that the majority of people are holding one in their hands. When someone goes over the lines into another lane or off the edge of the road or some other crazy crap when driving, I can say that when I go around them, they are on a cell phone a majority of the time. Yea, it gives me fits at times.

IMHO, the cell phone has become the worst invention ever created. I was out in public the other day and literally everyone around me… about 20+ people… were on their phones with their heads down. I know people who literally have panic attacks if they don’t have their phone with them. Go to a restaurant and look around. A lot of folks are sitting around looking at phones while ignoring the people they are sitting with. Can’t tell you the number of times I LMAO when I see someone walking down a sidewalk looking at a phone and fall off because they weren’t paying attention to what they were doing. I hate when I’m talking with someone and their phone rings. They throw everything to the side to answer the thing.

The cell phone has killed a person’s ability to interact with someone face to face along with many other things.

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America has an epidemic of auto violence.

If it saves just one child’s life, Congress should move to ban high capacity “assualt” vehicles with fuel tank capacities over 10 gallons.

In addition, any vehicle with one or more of the following features would also be banned.

  • foldable or detachable rear seats
  • fully automatic rear lift gate (“the trunk thing that goes up”
  • so called “remote start buttons” that allow rapid heating of the interior, frequently used on cold mornings.
  • “thumbhole steering wheels” developed as a workaround for the proper “10 and 2 grip”.

Etc…

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And yet somehow Ford, Chevy, Dodge, etc. etc. haven’t been sued into oblivion for selling their deadly contraptions. It is long over-due we ban assault vehicles (for the children, if saves only one).

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When did it become legal to drive under the influence?
You say “thanks to Michigan” so that’s why I’m asking, I live here and I don’t recall that happening.

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I had a 100 reasons for quitting driving OTR after 13 years & 1.3 million miles. Of the top 3 reasons, cell phones, which really started kicking off in the mid 2000’s. I quit in 2007 & it was horrible then…infinitely worse now. Road rage, cell phones, & unskilled/untrained drivers. You literally take your life into Gods hands every time you get into a vehicle…the other guy gives a SHIT about you.

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It’s not legal. However, marijuana availability went from illegal-drug to lifestyle choice, and many people consider it socially acceptable and OK. The amount of marijuana use here is up easily 20 times since it was legalized for recreational use.

I constantly see people driving in a way that fits marijuana intoxication. In my little town there are roughly the same number of marijuana outlets as fast food outlets. There is a cluster of them and I always see especially bad driving by the people going to and from those stores.

Legalizing recreational marijuana has had some major negatives, whatever libertarian ideals one may want to espouse.

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Ok Thanks.

I voted against making it legal in 2018 but I was in the minority as usual.

I’m in Wayne county so I understand seeing more dope stores than Walgreen’s. I just read your post as saying it was legal to drive stoned and wanted to make sure I didn’t miss something. I just misunderstood your post is all.

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Driving a truck for several years, where it’s easy to see down into people’s cars, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve spotted people driving on the freeway with their phones open in landscape mode holding it on their steering wheel and just going at it with both thumbs. On the freeway! The freeways around here constantly have sudden jam ups and congestion, you’ll be going 70 then you’ll have to slam on the brakes because there’s suddenly hundreds of cars up ahead just stopped. Not to mention all the crazy drivers and motorcyclists constantly swerving in and out of different lanes to try and get ahead of everybody. I’ve seen people with newspapers opened up on their steering wheel. Tons of people constantly texting, going on Facebook, reading the newspaper while driving and trying to negotiate a west coast freeway is insane.

These people are the reason I gave up on the idea of getting a motorcycle. Put my exposed body out there with a bunch of fast moving concrete and two ton steel vehicles flying around piloted by people who aren’t even watching where they’re going? No thanks. I don’t even like walking along the side of the road anymore, used to do it all the time when I was a kid, back when people actually watched where they were going when they were driving. Now I’m nervous some soccer mom is gonna go flying off the road and take me out while she’s on her phone updating her Facebook page with photos of Johnny’s soccer match.