New Haven Auto Accidents: Traffic Down, Fatalities Up

If you happened to drive along the highway during the recent stay-at-home order, it felt a bit surreal. You could zip up the entrance ramp and have the road entirely to yourself instead of applying the brakes on a congested Merritt Parkway or Interstate 95. Not a car for miles. 

Well, that empty road made some drivers feel like they had the freedom to increase their speed while driving. In fact, the number of drivers who exceeded 80 mph was up by 94 percent and that has led to more traffic fatalities than in years past. This year, there were 25 more vehicle related deaths than in the year prior. 

The faster your vehicle is traveling, the more time it takes to slow down. So, while there may not be other cars right in front of you to watch out for, the higher speed remains dangerous. Perhaps there’s a downed tree limb crossing your path or an unexpected breakdown. Anything like this could cause you to slam on your brakes.

If you are traveling at the posted speed limit, you should have time to stop for the unexpected. If you are traveling above the speed limit, it’s possible that you’ll end up in a fatal New Haven auto accident. 

This is proven by the fact that in 2020, traffic went down, so crashes in general went down too. Fewer cars meant fewer chances to have an accident at all (25,044 crashes compared to 35,004 in 2019). But, speed went up; so those who had an accident had a much worse accident because the speed meant drivers either hit with more force or had a harder time restoring control of a vehicle during the accident. It meant that more people died from high speed auto accidents. 

We’re seeing too many people driving at high speeds these days. Slow down and obey the speed limits; fewer cars should make for a safer roadway, not a more deadly one. 

And, if you or a loved one have been injured in a crash  give the experienced New Haven auto accident attorneys at Loricco Law Firm a call to discuss the incident.