One of the great things about looking at data and studying facts and statistics is that your can learn from past mistakes, discover trends, and address concerns based on the information at hand. From 2014 to 2015, traffic accident fatalities went up 8.4 percent, and that was the largest year-over-year increase in traffic accident fatalities in the United States since 1963-1964. And now, from 2015 to 2016, we saw another significant increase in the number of traffic fatalities.
According to the data from a new National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report on fatal traffic accidents, 2016 saw a 5.6 percent increase in traffic deaths when compared to 2015. This amounts to 1,976 more deaths in 2016 than in 2015, and when you drill down into the details a little more, the problem looks even worse.
Nearly every category of traffic deaths went up. Motorcycle accident deaths increased by 5.1 percent and were at their highest level since 2008. More startlingly, pedestrian deaths increased by a staggering 9 percent, marking the highest level for these fatalities since 1990.
While it was nice to see that distracted driving deaths went down, there are still too many figures in this report that jumped up. We have a serious road safety problem in this country right now, and the self-driving car revolution is still years away.
For the time being, if you are injured in an accident, it is imperative that you discuss your case with an attorney so that you may hold any negligent drivers responsible for their actions.
