Traffic Fatalities & Holiday Weekends.

[Subdeacon Joe]

I heard on the radio news that last year on Memorial Day Weekend "40 people died in traffic accidents in California." And that that number was up whatever percent from Memorial Day Weekend of 2013. So....how many die in traffic accidents on a "normal" weekend? Numbers like that are pretty meaningless unless you know what the "normal" number is.

I found one survey out of Alberta, Canada that there is about an 18% increase in traffic fatalities on holiday weekends. But that the contributing factors are not alcohol or excessive speed, but people not wearing seatbelts, and because people are less likely to be driving solo, more people in the cars involved.

Also, on a holiday weekend, are they comparing the 3 days of it to a regular 2 day weekend? If so, that will automatically skew the numbers.

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

YEAHBUT, they are all still dead.

[Subdeacon Joe]

YEAHBUT, they are all still dead.

Yeah, but is it OHMYGAWDSOMANYMOREDIEONHOLIDAYS! or is it not really out of proportion to the increased number of people on the road?

[Utah Bob #35998]

There are significantly higher numbers of vehicles on the road on holiday weekends. Many aredriving further than their normal commute. The numbers of parties and celebrations involving alcohol are also up. All these factors figure in the increased deaths.

[Old Scatterbrain]

Yeah, but is it OHMYGAWDSOMANYMOREDIEONHOLIDAYS! or is it not really out of proportion to the increased number of people on the road?

This never occured to me in this specific context, but I think basically the same thing about alot of the stats I hear on the "news". One of my (least) favorites is the oft-cited fact that the vast majority of car accidents happen within 20 miles of home, implying that people are more careless or reckless on familiar roads.Maybe it is because, for most people, the majority of their driving is within 20 miles of home, and even the trip across the state to grandma's and back starts and ends with those last 20 miles.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

This never occured to me in this specific context, but I think basically the same thing about alot of the stats I hear on the "news". One of my (least) favorites is the oft-cited fact that the vast majority of car accidents happen within 20 miles of home, implying that people are more careless or reckless on familiar roads.Maybe it is because, for most people, the majority of their driving is within 20 miles of home, and even the trip across the state to grandma's and back starts and ends with those last 20 miles.

I move 20 miles away, haven't had an accident since.

 

Seriously though, fatigue, longer distances and squeezing more activities into the available time.