Modesto Car Accident Risks Increase with Economic Recovery

 

Car manufacturers might be trying to build safer cars and transportation officials might be trying to make our roads safer for everyone, but the truth of the matter is that we're seeing more and more fatal accidents on our roadways.

According to CNN Money, the first three months of 2012 showed a near 15 percent increase from the number of fatal car accidents during the same time in 2011. Lawyer firm in Pennsylvania. Risks are expected to continue to increase as the economy recovers.

During the first four months of this year, there were nearly 8,000 people killed in traffic accidents in the U.S. During the same time period in 2011, only about 6,700 people had been killed on our roadways, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Our Modesto car accident attorneys understand that there are a number of reasons why transportation officials think we may be experiencing this increase. One of the top reasons is the unseasonably warm weather we've seen this year. More residents are tempted to get out there and take that road trip to their vacation destination. With more vacationers out and racking up those miles, more accidents are happening and were losing more lives. It's a correlation we've seen over and over. More vehicle miles traveled equates to more roadway fatalities.

"AAA agrees that warmer-than-average winter weather may have contributed to higher vehicle miles traveled, and ultimately more fatal crashes," said Jacob Nelson with the Automobile Association of America.

Unfortunately, this significant increase comes after a couple years of decreasing numbers. All of that progress was just wiped out in the matter of 4 months.

What might be most shocking is that typically the first four months of the year are some of the safest. In recent years, the number of fatal car accidents only increased each quarter as the year progressed. Experts say that it's usually because of the winter weather. When the cool wind blows in, families aren't as excited to travel. The colder it gets, the safer our roadways become.

Officials are realizing that way more needs to be done and a few safety campaigns to tackle distracted driving and seat belts aren't going to cut it.

If the current statistics hold true and the year follows the trend of previous years, then we're in for some trouble. The first quarter numbers represent the second largest year-to-year quarterly increase in traffic deaths since the government began recording them back in 1975.

From this year to last year, speaking in vehicle miles traveled, we've seen a near 1.5 percent increase.

Drivers should take this news as a warning and use it as an incentive to change driving habits. Only safe and responsible driving habits can help to bring these numbers back down. No amount of enforcement efforts and campaigns is going to make a difference unless drivers decide that they want to do it for themselves.