What Drove Traffic Crashes Up Last Year?

[XLFD]

In 2020, the year of Covid shutdowns and travel advisories, one would not be surprised to find that the amount of miles driven by Americans spiked downward.  The surprising statistic is that the amount of traffic crash fatalities spiked upward at the same time, making the fatalities/miles driven rate spike even more upward.

(Associated Press)  "Pandemic lockdowns and stay-at-home orders kept many drivers off U.S. roads and highways last year. But those who did venture out found open lanes that only invited reckless driving, leading to a sharp increase in traffic-crash deaths across the country.

The nonprofit National Safety Council (NSC) estimates in a report issued Thursday that 42,060 people died in vehicle crashes in 2020, an 8% increase over 2019 and the first jump in four years.

Plus, the fatality rate per 100 million miles driven spiked 24%, the largest annual percentage increase since the council began collecting data in 1923.  Federal data shows that Americans drove 13% fewer miles last year."

The article offers some theories as to why the statistics went the way they did, while offering some anecdotes of officials seeing a rise in risk-taking behavior on the roads, adding that the percentage of crashes attributed to drug impairments (alcohol, marijuana, opioids, etc.) also rose.  

One could definitely make the case that the psychological factors of dealing with the 'new normal' probably drove many to escape more through intoxicants, while the loss of control over their lives and their businesses could have made them accept more risk when driving.  Yet, what if the rise in fatal crash rates was less on the psychological side and more on the physical side?

For the main difference between driving in the years preceding 2020 and driving in 2020, especially in certain states, was the widespread wearing of masks in 2020.  Consider that many inherent dangers arise from actually wearing a mask when driving.  Most people adjust their masks religiously, particularly when there is not a good seal. This creates not only a manual disruption, but a cognitive one as well. The feeling of the mask disrupts your thought patterns which can cause you to adjust it, prompting a loss of concentration on the road and your speedometer making a crash more likely.   

If you wear glasses, most masks don’t fit properly or lack an adjustable nose bridge, which can cause your breath to rise through the opening and fog up your glasses. The visual distraction is annoying and unnecessarily puts you at an exceeded risk of being involved in a crash.  In similar manner, if you do not wear glasses, wearing a face mask makes the exhaled air go into the eyes, this generates an uncomfortable dry-eye feeling, tiredness, and an impulse to touch your eyes. If your hands are contaminated, you are infecting yourself.

While most people understand that a mask is unnecessary when they drive by themselves or with household members, taxicab, bus, and delivery drivers usually wear masks due to law, expedience, or courtesy, and many may forego their eyewear rather than their mask and become a danger on the road because of poor vision.  Added to that problem has been the closure of eye doctors for most of 2020 in many states, leading to many having visual difficulties.

Even if one does not wear a mask while driving home from a job, if that job required the wearing of face masks for 8 or more hours one may temporarily experience hypooxygenemia and hypercapnia which reduce working efficiency and the ability to make correct decisions.   Dizziness, headaches, and shortness of breath are commonly experienced as side effects of wearing masks over a long period of time.  These conditions negatively affect driving skills and can cause crashes.

An earlier study from the NSC from six months ago indirectly illustrates why wearing masks driving or before driving appears to increase traffic crashes.  Vermont led the nation, with a 91% increase in crash fatalities, they instituted a mask mandate on April 20th.  Connecticut had a 46% increase, starting their mask mandate on April 17th.  Washington DC's mayor enacted his first mask order on April 9th, their crash fatality rate increase was 42%.  Their early mask mandates were among the toughest in the nation.  None of the seven safest states, all having a 16% or better reduction in traffic fatalities over that period, had statewide mask mandates until after June 30th.

In the face of these physical and statistical realities, one might unmask the truth behind the hidden danger that has made our roads and streets less safe.

[XLFD]

I enjoy your Machiavellian theory behind the internal machinations behind what's happening in Scottville, but I can refute it by noting that the budgets for 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 have the treasurer receiving complete full-time benefits.  

My theory, based on Amy Williams' statements in the record that says she never promoted Shafer to full-time, is that when Williams retired, Shafer took advantage of the confusion arising in the transition of power to make herself a full-time employee, or that she and Magaluk informally agreed that it would be best to have her work full time while the new city manager learned the ropes, where neither decided to make that a temporary change. 

Either branch of my theory implies one or two city officials acted with little regard for the city's finances or the rules.  This could also have been part of what led to the schism between Magaluk and Shafer at the end, illustrated in part by Magaluk's responses to the flimsy Sailor investigation. 

[Freedom Seeker]

Your theory sounds very plausible,  X.  I wasn't trying to be Machiavellian as much as trying to give one not educated in the law (CT) the benefit of the doubt.  And she may well have taken advantage of the transfer of power, but for two years?  I think that it slipped through the cracks, and that CA was not up on the nuances of FMLA. But in his case, ignorance of law shouldn't be an excuse.  And if my theory is true, how to rectify the situation?  It seems it will be excused and swept under the mat of learning because proving malicious intent shall be hard for sure.  I'm just amazed at all you pick up and wish our city of Ludington would utilize your analytical skills.

[XLFD]

Indirectly, Ludington City Hall does utilize my analytical skills for several hours each week over the last 12 years.  It comes at its own cost when they refuse to follow the rules.  But I only get paid when they force me to take them into court to right their wrongdoing, and even then it usually just gets me paid back the same amount I invested into the lawsuit, due to the nature of FOIA and OMA lawsuits.

There will be a new scandal revealed tomorrow by me at the Ludington city council meeting, just in case they were worried that my attention has been diverted to Scottville and the local health department.