Slow down, people! Surge in traffic deaths continues in Pacific Northwest

[Technobarbarian]

"Slow down, people! Surge in traffic deaths continues in Pacific Northwest

By Tom Banse (Northwest News Network)
Dec. 7, 2022 6 a.m.

While many of the disruptions of the pandemic have eased this year, the
surge in traffic fatalities is showing few signs of abating.
Policymakers are trying a number of tactics to respond.

The death toll on the roads reached a 20-year high last year across
Oregon and Washington. Through November of this year, the number of
traffic fatalities is down only slightly in Oregon — off about 6% from
last year’s bloody pace. And in Washington, it’s kept on rising and is
on track to surpass 700 for the year, said Washington Traffic Safety
Commission Director Shelly Baldwin.

“That’ll be the highest numbers that we’ve seen since the ‘90s. It’s a
distressing place to find ourselves,” she told members of the state
House Transportation Committee during a briefing Thursday.

“Everything has gone up,” Baldwin continued, meaning crashes involving
speeding, drugs or alcohol, distraction and unfastened seat belts."

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/07/slow-down-people-surge-in-traffic-deaths-continues-in-west-coast-states/

Actually it looks like we're hanging in there. I have no idea
what's happening in South Carolina. Their traffic fatalities went down
and they still have the highest fatality rate in the nation so far this
year.

"Early Estimate of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities for the
First Half (January – June) of 2022
Summary
A statistical projection of traffic fatalities for the first half
of 2022 shows that an estimated 20,175 people died in
motor vehicle traffic crashes. This represents a marginal
increase of about 0.5 percent as compared to 20,070 fatalities projected
to have occurred in the first half of 2021, as
shown in Table 1. This also represents the highest number of fatalities
during the first half of the year since 2006.
The second quarter of 2022 represents the first decline in
fatalities after seven consecutive quarters of year-to-year
increases in fatalities, beginning with the third quarter
of 2020. Preliminary data reported by the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) show that vehicle miles
traveled (VMT) in the first half of 2022 increased by
about 43.2 billion miles, or about a 2.8-percent increase.
Also shown in Table 1 are the fatality rates per 100 million VMT, by
quarter. The fatality rate for the first half
of 2022 decreased to 1.27 fatalities per 100 million VMT,
down from the projected rate of 1.30 fatalities per 100
million VMT in the first half of 2021. For the NHTSA
Regional differences, 5 of 10 Regions are estimated to
have had increases in fatalities, and 2 of the 10 Regions
are estimated to have had increases in fatality rate per
100 million VMT in the first half of 2022 as compared to
the first half of 2021. Also, 29 States are projected to have
experienced increases in fatalities. The actual counts for
2021 and 2022 and the ensuing percentage changes from
2021 to 2022 will be further revised as the FARS annual
report files for 2021 are available later this year, as well
as when the FARS final file for 2021 and annual report
file for 2022 are available next year. These estimates will
be further refined when the projections for the first 9
months of 2022 are released in late December."

https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813376

TB

[George.Anthony]

Another unnecessary tome posting when the like would have been adequate.
Anyway, thank God. I was beginning to believe all the lame brained PNW
news had dried up. What you have here are the unintended consequences of
liberal policies. Defund the police, legalize drugs, no cash bail, I'm
okay, you're okay.

From the article:
"A common response to pedestrian deaths that cities are deploying is to
lower the speed limit on roads with high crash rates or adding speed
bumps and redesigning streets."

Hardly something that will work. The old cliche' that speed doesn't
kill, running into things does applies here. It's not the speed that
causes the crashes. I don't think politicians know the meaning of 'root
cause". How many of those homeless are druggies who are guilty of
distracted street crossings?

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In view of recent elections, it seems liberal voters have become
afflicted with Stockholm Syndrome.