Fatal car accidents are always concerning, of course, and they always make you think twice when you get behind the wheel. Reading a story about a tragic accident can really stick with you.
The goods news, however, is that these accidents have become less and less common over the years. If you look back at the 1970s and then compare them to modern stats, you’ll at least see that the overall trend is for these accidents to be less frequent over time.
This happens for numerous reasons. Cars are safer now than ever before, for instance, and more safety technology is hitting the market every year. Medicine is also better, so people who get involved in serious accidents are more likely to survive.
What happened in 2020?
This context is needed to understand why 2020 was so dangerous. Despite lower overall traffic levels, fatal accidents increased drastically. In fact, the number of deaths was greater than anything that was seen since 2007 — nearly 15 years ago.
This is not the type of reversal anyone likes to see. It was a strange outlier on many levels, including the fact that less driving led to more deaths when one would expect it to lead to an abnormal drop in fatal accidents. It will be very interesting to see the numbers for 2021 to see if this trend is going to continue or if things will start falling again.
Did you lose a loved one?
If a loved one was taken from you in a car accident, you may have a right to compensation for medical bills, funeral costs and more.