Stunning in their dimensions: America’s roadway fatalities
“Where’s the social outrage?”
That query was recently posed by Robert L. Sumwalt, head of the federal National Transportation Safety Board.
The focus of Sumwalt’s frustration and ire is on subject matter that has long perplexed regulators and other parties centrally concerned with safety on America’s roadways.
The bottom line: The country’s streets and highways aren’t very safe at all. In fact, they are so glaringly dangerous that it takes a truly stunning statistic to convey the dimensions of their peril.
To wit: Reportedly, more people have died in motor vehicle accidents across the country since 2000 than did Americans in both World Wars last century.
NTSB-supplied statistics underscore an estimated 624,000 people who have suffered fatal injuries in vehicle-linked crashes nationally within the past two decades. An additional 30 million were injured in those accidents.
Regulators stress – and unsurprisingly so – that negligent driving has been and always is the prime catalyst spurring deadly accidents. Speeding, distracted driving and behind-the-wheel inebriation are routinely on the top of the list of factors yielding catastrophic results.
Drunk driving commands an especially strong spotlight in NTSB data. Researchers point to hundreds of thousands of fatally tied DUI:/DWI crashes in recent years.
It is truly sad that virtually all roadway accidents and resulting fatalities owe to a driver’s negligence (government regulators say that human error alone causes about 94% of all crashes).
Victims of third-party carelessness in Illinois and elsewhere can pursue legal remedies against individuals who are responsible for inflicting personal injury. A legal recovery can defray medical costs, pay for rehabilitation/therapy, help recoup lost wages and recover additional monies relevant to crash-tied injuries. Moreover, it can materially empower injured parties by holding wrongdoers accountable and deterring similar conduct in the future.
A proven personal injury legal team can provide further information.