[euroclydon]

In a year when Geico is giving their customers an across the board rebate on their premiums because driving miles are down so much, and driving accidents are the third or fourth leading cause of death in a non-pandemic year, I think we'd need to adjust downward the baseline. I wonder if these calculations take that into account?

[tiahura]

'Tragic': Driving Was Down In 2020, But Traffic Fatality Rates Surged

The National Safety Council (NSC) says deaths from motor vehicles rose 8% last year, with as many as 42,060 people dying in vehicle crashes.

When comparing traffic deaths to the number of miles driven, the rate of fatalities rose 24% — the highest spike in nearly a century, NSC says.

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/05/974006735/tragic-driving-was-...

[ortusdux]

Enforcement went down to basically zero in my area. Now that the officers are vaccinated, they have started aggressively enforcing moving violations.

[petertodd]

Remember that kinetic energy is proportional to velocity squared. So if less traffic is letting people drive faster, that could easily result in more deaths. I live in a city, and average speeds certainly seem faster than pre-pandemic traffic.

Also, working at home may be allowing people to avoid traffic because hours are less strict. Again, that would allow traffic to move faster on average.

[lotsofpulp]

Driving deaths are up:

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/05/974006735/tragic-driving-was-...

[euroclydon]

Thanks! That's wild!