Police see dramatic rise in speeds, fatal crashes during pandemic

On this week’s edition of the Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, a conversation about why fatal crashes on Michigan roads in 2020 exceeded those in 2019, despite traffic volumes being significantly diminished because of the pandemic.

Preliminary numbers indicate 1,032 people died from crashes on Michigan roads in 2020, while the number was 985 in 2019. This, despite traffic volumes being down as much as 60 percent in the weeks immediately following stay-home advisories from the outbreak and remaining down around 20 percent through the rest of the year.

With many fewer vehicles on the roads and reduced congestion, experts speculate the open road contributed to higher speeds.

First, Michigan State Police Lt. DuWayne Robinson talks about what law enforcement officers are seeing across the state. As he told WWMT-TV in December, troopers had written 69 percent more tickets for excessive speeding, defined as 25 mph or more over the limit.

Later, Peter Savolainen, a Michigan State University professor and expert in traffic safety and traffic operations, talks about the impact speeds have on the severity of crashes. He says an age-old challenge confronts engineers who design roads and safety advocates in finding creative ways to alter driver behavior.

Savolainen also observes that speeds had been rising in Michigan in previous years: "Some of these concerns are exacerbated by the fact that we did increase speed limits across Michigan back in 2017. Speeds have gone up as a consequence of that. Crashes and fatalities have gone up as well."

Because of the pandemic, vehicle miles traveled dropped an unprecedented 264.2 billion miles during the first half of 2020. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that's 17 percent lower than the same period in 2019. NHTSA said deaths as a result of crashes fell 2 percent, but the rate of fatalities rose 18 percent.

As the Wall Street Journal observed, "In other words, an inordinate number of people died given how many fewer miles they traveled. It was the highest motor vehicle fatality rate for that span of time in a dozen years."