Why The Increase In Reckless Driving?
As someone who reports traffic collisions, my reports always involve reckless driving. I noticed it happening more after the pandemic, wondering if we’re more likely to report these speed racers than before the pandemic? When speeding on busy streets we only save maybe 60-seconds at most. Speeding on highways could maybe shave off a few minutes, but you have to worry about speeding tickets. Is saving a few minutes worth serious or fatal wrecks? When we put our seatbelts on and leave the housing development, we are fighting for our lives sometimes. In Charlotte, North Carolina, we’re not as proficient at driving when it’s raining or snowing, we just aren’t.
Connect NC has compiled traffic a path to track crash data prior to May 11, 2022. The alarming statistics say that 1,783 persons were killed, making it a 7.5% increase from 2020. More stats below.
114,722 persons injured, an 8.9% increase from 2020
276,026 traffic crashes reported, an 11.7% increase from 2020
Out-of-state drivers were involved in 7.4% of all reported crashes
Out-of-state drivers accounted for 5.5% of all drivers killed
70.6% of all crashes occurred between 7:00 a.m. and 6:59 p.m.
16.90 persons were killed for every 100,000 people
23.9% of all fatalities were related to speeding.
During rush hour we wait eternally for someone to let us merge in on the on-going traffic. You slowly inch your way out until someone slips up, not paying attention, and you get ahead of them and pull out. Aha, now the fun really begins. You need to turn left in .05 miles, but you are in the far right lane. Well honey, these days speed racers cross over 3 lanes without thinking it through.
