AAA study finds Covid-19 pandemic had deadly impact on traffic

JACKSON, Tenn. — A recent study has shown that since the global pandemic, driver related deaths have been at an all time high.

“So, we know that certain things are dangerous. We know that they’re risky but we continue to still do them while we’re driving. So I think that’s how this research highlights a trend that probably started way before the pandemic. It’s more of the ongoing traffic safety issues that we see from year to year,” said Megan Cooper, spokesperson for AAA.

A study released by AAA shared that driving without a seatbelt, driving under the influence, and certain demographics contributed to this spike in fatalities.

“We saw a lot of fatalities in the late night, early morning time frame. Early in the pandemic a lot of research suggested that speeding was a big issue because of the lack of traffic congestion when people were working from home,” said Cooper.

Researchers found over 100 thousand people were killed on the road from May 2020 to December 2022.

This was a 17% increase in traffic deaths than what was expected.

“Really get drivers involved in their own driving behaviors staring to make those internal changes in our self and make traffic safety a little bit more commonplace in our day-to-day lives,” said Cooper.

These numbers can lower if drivers take others into account before getting behind the wheel and take the correct measures.

“This is something that’s in our control. We can choose to drive safe, we can choose to wear our seatbelts, we can choose to not drive impaired. So there are a lot of things, I think we like to blame on others or we think, that we are invincible,” said Cooper.

It was also found that those who are Black or Hispanic were disproportionately affected, with traffic fatalities seeing an increase in the two year span.

This research also found that wrecks late at night, along with wrecks involving men, and people ages 55 and up saw an increase.

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