For a pandemic and less people out on the road on top of having fewer crashes, there will still more people who died behind the wheel in 2020 than in 2019.

Who didn't see someone driving well over 80 miles an hour in 2020? I drive 131 to and from work and all throughout the pandemic, I could not believe how many people were blowing by me when I'm driving 75 miles per hour and just leave me in the dust.

Now a few times during the last part of the winter, some of those who blew by me, I would pass them after they went off in the ditch but as far as I know, there were no deaths in those slide offs.

According to WOOD, officials from the state of Michigan have officially released the data that confirms crashes were down in 2020 from 2019 but driving deaths were up. Maybe the high speeds had something to do with it.

Suicides were up in 2020 but there was no data that connected a suicide to an automotive death.

The Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning are combing through all this new data and are trying to get to the bottom of why more people died when automobile accidents were down. Right now they are thinking that the crashes that did occur were much more severe and that was why there was an increase in death.

So far what the data does show is that crashes were down in 2020 22% as compared to 2019. That is a significant reduction, but we have to keep in mind that for most of 2020, there were much less people on the road. The real story is, with so many fewer accidents, how the heck did deaths jump 10% from 2019 to 2020?

Officials have list of things they think may have led to more deaths was all the speeding that was going on in 2020, lack of people buckling up since police were not really pulling people over because of the pandemic and others driving while impaired.

Sounds like law enforcement is going to make up for lost time in 2020 by adding a bunch of summer campaigns that will target seatbelt use and driving while impaired. I highly suggest buckling up and never drink and drive.

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