Car crash deaths up 18%

[ergophobe]

Remember how the lockdowns and work from home were not only going to save us from Covid, but also would reduce deaths due to car crashes. It turns out, not so much. I've seen this covered in The Economist (paywall) and on the Slow Boring

https://www.slowboring.com/p/all-kinds-of-bad-behavior-is-on-the

The best guess: Covid has encouraged all manner of bad behavior and anti-social behavior. So we have not just unruly passengers on planes, but people running red lights. Nobody knows why. A few random hypotheses:

- stress makes us focus on perceived dangers, so people worried about Covid are less worried about oncoming traffic because the brain has only so much processing power
- the anger and vitriol makes people feel less connected, so they are less likely to follow basic social norms
- people are accustomed to higher level of risk taking, so they let that spill over into their driving
- anxious people are sleeping less and therefore have worse focus while driving

That's just me spitballing the first four things that popped into my mind.

[rcjordan]

Americans are using alcohol to cope with pandemic stress: Nearly 1 in 5 report 'heavy drinking'
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2021/09/22/covid-19-pandemic-heavy-drinking-survey-alkermes/5798036001/

I suspect drug use is increasing, too.

[ergophobe]

Check out the article I linked - overdose deaths are way up

[rcjordan]

Some are attributing the increase in wrecks to the increase in vehicle size, as pick-ups and big suvs are all the rage^(pun) now.

[ergophobe]

Could be. My understanding from another article is a lot of the deaths are pedestrians and it is definitely true that large vehicles with tall grilles are way worse for pedestrians

[rcjordan]

>pedestrians

Yup. Two hit-n-runs here in my small town in the last 2 weeks.

[rcjordan]

Increasingly older population but still driving.

65 and Older Population Grows Rapidly as Baby Boomers Age
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/65-older-population-grows.html

[rcjordan]

Pedestrian deaths are surging - Axios
https://www.axios.com/pedestrian-deaths-rise-covid-19-3d34f0b5-184e-44fa-a7d2-926ff39c6a80.html

[ergophobe]

That's generally what's been showing in my news for a while.