Pandemic Revs Up Bad Driver Behavior In Maryland - Annapolis, MD - The coronavirus pandemic has cleared roads across the country, making more room for speeders, reckless drivers and other traffic faux pas.
In 2020, traffic fell but road deaths rose
Luz Lazo, The Washington Post
Feb. 12, 2021
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Evening rush hour traffic is sparse on March 18, 2020, on Washington s Capital Beltway near the Interstate 270 spur in Montgomery County, Md., where it s usually jammed. The number of commuters working from home and other motorists avoiding travel due to the coronavirus outbreak caused rush-hour traffic congestion to vanish from many U.S. cities.Washington Post photo by Katherine Shaver
WASHINGTON - Traffic fatalities increased nationally last year despite a significant drop in travel because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The pandemic, which has killed nearly 500,000 Americans, also altered the dynamics of road safety with some drivers taking open lanes as an invitation for reckless driving, transportation and law enforcement officials say.
Seattle startup’s bright idea: High-tech crosswalk could signal a way to improve pedestrian safety
February 10, 2021 at 10:08 am
Janie Bube wants to improve the visibility of pedestrians in crosswalks. (Ben Murphy Photography)
On a rainy, foggy night in Seattle, an incident in a crosswalk changed the path that Janie Bube was on.
A University of Washington student at the time, Bube was walking near the Burke-Gilman Trail when she was hit by a bicyclist in December 2018. Nobody was hurt, but Bube was rattled enough to immediately begin considering why she wasn’t visible enough, how serious it could have been and how the problem could be solved.
And while the report acknowledges that deadly speeding is a problem at any age, it warns that the consequences of speeding pose a particularly grave danger to young drivers between the ages of 16 and 19. We have a culture of speeding in this country, said.
Representative Overdorf:
Thank you for considering this testimony. The R Street Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy research organization. Our mission is to engage in policy research and outreach to promote free markets and limited, effective government in many areas. Part of that work includes analyzing and supporting rational alcoholic beverage policies that respect individual freedom, free enterprise and the public well-being.
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