[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The COVID-19 global pandemic closed schools, forced many businesses to scale back operations, and led many employees to begin working from home.\u00a0 These actions resulted in a significant drop of vehicles on the roads over the past year.\u00a0 Now, with businesses beginning to operate at a higher capacity, some children attending in-person learning, and workers returning to the job site, and vaccinations in full swing, traffic in Southern California is approaching pre-pandemic levels.\u00a0 It is unknown what affect the return to normal traffic will have on road safety.<\/p>\n
Now, one might assume that with more vehicles on the road the dangers might increase, but that may not necessarily be true.\u00a0 It may see counterintuitive, but in 2020, with fewer vehicles on the road and fewer miles driven, the total number of traffic-related fatalities increased 8 percent in 2020 over 2019.\u00a0 Traffic deaths had been steadily falling since 2016 but reversed during the pandemic.\u00a0 According to the National Safety Council<\/a>, the fatality rate per 100 million miles driven increased 24% last year, its largest ever recorded increase.\u00a0 The total number of 2020 traffic deaths in the US was the highest seen since 2007.<\/p>\n With fewer vehicles on the road, many drivers adopted incredibly bad driving behaviors.\u00a0 Early in the pandemic, the number of tickets issued for driving over 100mph<\/a> surged in California.\u00a0 Driving experts are unsure if the bad behaviors will abate with the return to normal traffic levels.\u00a0 The Law Offices of Scott Warmuth encourages responsible driving<\/a>.\u00a0 If you are getting back on the road, please be courteous to all the other drivers on the roads!<\/p>\n