Virginia Traffic Deaths Lowest Since 1966 (Reston, Fairfax: statistics, cars, install)

[normie]

Virginia Traffic Deaths Lowest Since 1966 | Loudoun Independent

Here's an interesting statistic. As of Nov. 30, there were 98 fewer traffic fatalities in Virginia than there were by the same time last year, a decline of 13 percent. (However... I'm not sure if our recent blizzard had any traffic fatalities--if it did that may skew the statistics.)

Still, it's interesting to think that traffic fatalities decreased despite the fact that traffic seems to be getting worse.

[car54]

It might be because the po'folks downstate are walkin' these days...

[novatert]

Are 20 percent of people really still not wearing seatbelts, in this day and age? I've never known anyone who didn't wear a seatbelt.

[normie]

Maybe it's the silver lining to gridlock. Traffic moves more slowly, and while that may mean more people get aggravated, it also means a lot less people get killed.

[normie]

Originally Posted by novatert

I've never known anyone who didn't wear a seatbelt.

Me neither--driving without a seat belt buckled feels creepy, like walking with untied shoes.

[Bigfoot424]

Maybe it's the traffic enforcement many on here are constantly bitching about?

[normie]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Maybe it's the traffic enforcement many on here are constantly bitching about?

Hmmmmm.... you might just be right about that.

[Margery]

The fact that the number of fatalities is decreasing while there are certainly more drivers than in 1966 is interesting. I think cars are built now with more protection for the occupants in case of a collision. Anyone that doesn't wear seatbelts should spend a Saturday night in an E.R., when I was a nurse we always called ambulances "meat wagons". We always had a mechanic install seatbelts in our cars before seat belts were standard equipment and harnesses for the children, mostly because of what I had seen in the E.R. as a student nurse.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by normie

Me neither--driving without a seat belt buckled feels creepy, like walking with untied shoes.

Or walking around with my fly down all day at the office (except nobody ever tells me!) D'oh!

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

Maybe it's the traffic enforcement many on here are constantly bitching about?

Just saw another Fairfax County police officer pulling over someone earlier near the Spectrum Center in Reston.