At least 20 U.S. states reported seeing a significant decline in fatal car crashes during the coronavirus pandemic. CBS News reached out to 26 states with a historically high number of traffic related deaths, and discovered that fatal car crashes on California freeways declined 84%.
California highway patrol Captain Salvadore Suarez stated the state’s plea to residents to not “come out and drive unless you absolutely have to” has been doing well. The state’s total traffic dropped 35%, which means that the freeways are open for emergency responders.
“Fire personnel, ambulances, law enforcement, they could utilize our freeway systems and be able to get from call to call a lot faster,” Suarez informed CBS News’ Kris Van Cleave.
Michigan saw a similar decline in fatal crashes during the pandemic, with the rate dropping 67%. In Illinois, they declined 57%.
Throughout the country, however, there are notable exceptions. Louisiana, Minnesota and Oklahoma have all stated they have seen increase in traffic deaths during this period. Police nationwide saw the rate of drivers going 100 miles per hour or faster increased by 30%.
New York City also saw positive result from the decline in driving, going 46 days without a pedestrian death — the longest stretch seen since the city started keeping record of such deaths in 1983.
The overall decline in crashes prompted auto insurers to give hundreds of millions in refunds.
