Fatal car crashes up in Arizona, drunk driving-related accidents decrease
Fatal car crashes in Arizona jumped seven percent in 2016 from the previous year, but accidents that involved drunk driving decreased by 14 percent over the same time period.
(Flickr/perthhdproductions)
(Flickr/perthhdproductions)
PHOENIX — Fatal car crashes in Arizona jumped seven percent in 2016 from the previous year, but accidents that involved drunk driving decreased by 14 percent over the same time period.
According to a recent study from the U.S. Department of Transportation, there were 897 fatal car accidents in Arizona in 2015. In 2016, that number jumped to 962 total fatalities, accounting for a 7.2 percent increase in fatal car crashes.
In comparison, the number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities decreased from 269 in 2015 to 232 in 2015, making for a 13.8 percent decrease in those type of fatal car accidents.
In 2015, the number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities only made up 30 percent of all fatal car accidents. That number decreased to 24 percent in 2016.
This finding does not reflect the trend nationwide.
While the number of fatal car accidents increased nationwide between 2015 and 2016, from 35,385 to 37,461, the number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities also increased nationwide.
The number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities increased by 1.7 percent nationwide from 2015 to 2016, from 10,320 to 10,497.
According to the report, the last time the number of fatal car accidents increased this much nationwide was from 1963 to 1964, when they increased by 9.4 percent.
The back-to-back total motor vehicle fatality increases from 2014 to 2015 and from 2015 to 2016 were 8.4 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.
The last time the nation saw back-to-back fatality increases of this magnitude was from 1963 to 1964 and from 1964 to 1965.
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Comments
3 Comments
can you imagine if pot was legalized and put in action, they would have blamed all this on pot. Nope still happened so must be something else. remember this for the nexdt fight. I will
You need to add in all the distracted drivers using their cell phones.... this habit causes more accidents than drunk driving. And the speed of the cars do too. No one does close to the speed limit and you have cars zigging and zagging, not only on the freeways but also on main streets, far in excess of the posted speed limits. Last week I had one on Litchfield Rd, a mile north of the freeway doing at least 70, posted 40, zigging and zagging.....reckless.
Not very surprising...
The percentage of traffic deaths in which at least one driver tested positive for drugs has nearly doubled over a decade.
In April, 2017 the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) released a study that found 43 percent of drivers tested in fatal crashes had drugs of any kind – prescription or illegal – in their system, compared to 37 percent who showed alcohol levels above the legal limit.
As medical marijuana sales expanded into 20 states, legal weed was detected in the bodies of dead drivers three times more often during 2010 when compared to those who died behind the wheel in 1999, according to a new study from Columbia University.