The general trend with car accidents, over the decades, has been a decline in fatalities. However, in recent years, stats had actually started to trend upward again. Many experts blamed the popularity of the smartphone, starting around 2007, saying that it was causing more driver distraction and thus undercutting the work of all safety innovations.
If you have heard that complaint before, you’ll be happy to know that things have turned around again. For the last two years on record, accident fatalities have dropped by about 2%. That’s in consecutive years, for a 4% total drop between 2017 and 2019. More than 1,000 lives have been saved as a result.
Why the change? Innovations are continuing, for one thing, with new technology like lane-departure warnings potentially saving lives. These can alert a distracted driver who is looking away from the road and who doesn’t realize they’re drifting into oncoming traffic. If you can’t stop drivers from using their phones, developments like this may help make up for it.
That said, more than 38,000 people still lost their lives in these accidents. “Thirty-eight thousand deaths is still unacceptable,” said the president and CEO of the National Safety Council, “even if it is fewer than in years past.” While things are still trending downward — and it will be interesting to see what the 2020 numbers show once the year concludes — the reality is that as many people die on the roads as the population of a major college. That’s far higher than experts would like it to be.
If you have lost a loved one in a car accident or suffered serious injuries, you must know what legal options you have to seek compensation. While it won’t bring back your loved one or restore your health, a lawsuit can help you obtain the money you need to remain financially stable.