Some [bad] numbers about driving in the US…
Car crashes now kill OVER 40,000 people every year in America – car crashes have become one of the leading causes of death in this country. There are some 6,000,000 car crashes every year that result in injuries and property damage (and we wonder why auto insurance costs so much).
CRASH DATA FROM FARS/NHTSA:
~ 19,937 motor vehicle crashes occur every day in the United States.
– There are around 118 deaths caused by auto accidents each and every day. Imagine a 120 seat airplane crashing…due to negligent pilot behavior… every day
Injuries: An estimated 6,849 injuries happen each day due to car accidents.
In 2022, a total of 42,514 fatal car accidents occurred on roadways across the United States. Another 1,664,598 crashes resulted in injuries and 4,226,677 caused property damage. In all, the number of police-reported crashes that year hit 5,930,496. – Forbes
From 2018 to 2022, the number of deadly accidents in the United States increased by more than 16% — from 36,835 fatal car crashes in 2018 to 42,795 fatal car crashes in 2022. 41,000 people were killed in US car crashes last year (2023). – USA Today
NHTSA has now published 2023 FARS data and the numbers are NOT any better. In the 30 years from 1994-2023 a total of 1,176,187 people have been KILLED on US Roads. That many people would be the 10th largest city in the US…
Ohio is seeing comparable problems – 1100 people are killed on Ohio roads each year. There are 250,000 car crashes involving over 500,000 people.
Traffic Deaths bottomed out in the US around 2010, dipping just slightly below 33,000 for a couple years and then started climbing, and climbing and CLIMBING. From 32,479 in 2011 to 42,471 in 2022. 9,992 more deaths today than in 2011 a whopping THIRTY PERCENT INCREASE in a decade
Why?
That’s worth studying – social media started, and blew up in this time period… as did the development & sale of phones capable of doing a lot more than making phone calls. Suddenly, from your car, you could receive & review a fax or spreadsheet, search the World Wide Web, go online to look at a menu, watch TV or a Movie, take a photo or video, download data, upload to any of the dozens of media pages… all while “DRIVING”… and did car makers take steps to stop this? Ummm… NO… the InfoTainment systems that used to just play music now have screens the size of large iPads and have become CRASHerTainment systems…
The bottom line is that people SUCK at driving cars – they run into buildings – poles- curbs- other cars and people on bikes or motorcycles, as well as people just walking around – People in the US drive their cars so poorly that they are killing others in record numbers… it’s more than an issue, it is a public health problem.
What’s the answer?
I’m not “carceral” per se, but I think if people knew there would be STIFF punishments for careless driving they’d be more…careful… but that’s just me…
In some places there is so much concern for E-BIKES that they are passing local laws prohibiting them, or allowing forfeiture/impoundment… I’m really NOT against that…for cars…
Perhaps just having in the law the ability of LEOs or the Courts so simply lock up their cars for a time will slow folks down – I dunno – SPEED is clearly the problem. Speed KILLS… and the current “system” of safety by ticketing is failing everyone…and the answer is NOT “get everyone ELSE off the roads so cars can go even faster” – the answer is slowing down traffic so motorists kill and maim fewer people – if allowing the government to impound cars for a specified term gets that job done, I’m all for it…
While I was in DC many years ago for the National Bike Summit I met Eleanor McMahon, a Canadian visitor who tagged along with the Ohio contingent. Her story was a very sad one. Her husband was a cyclist, and police officer, who was killed while riding [off duty] on the road. The motorist was not licensed. He had over 5 license suspensions – and multiple crashes. She did some research that showed an extraordinary percentage of people drive on suspended licenses. She developed a bill called Greg’s Law, after her husband. This bill substantially upped the penalties for repeat offenders – fines up to $50,000 – and imposed a 7-day Impoundment of the offender’s vehicle. Sort of a cooling off period, which has been effective. Eleanor was a very effective advocate for us in DC and for her constituents later when she was elected to government in Canada!
© 2025.
