According to the Pennsylvania State Police, more than 350 people were injured in car accidents between the dates of September 2 and September 5 this year. The 783 collisions that occurred over Labor Day weekend injured 351 individuals and killed nine others. More than half of these recent fatalities were caused by car crashes in which alcohol was directly involved. Eighty of the 783 accidents involved alcohol somehow.
Police officers also issued 6,713 speeding tickets that weekend, and 438 arrests were made because of driving under the influence. All of these are dangerous habits and can lead to a higher probability for car accidents. During Labor Day last year, statistics were slightly lower. The Pennsylvania State Police reported 754 accidents, 271 injuries and another nine deaths in 2010.
Negligent driving encompasses many different things. Drunk driving, speeding, texting and driving, and generally being distracted while driving are all forms of negligence. As can be seen from the car accident statistics from Labor Day weekend alone, negligent driving is a serious problem in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of people were injured in a just four-day span. The number of people injured annually is surely much higher.
Unfortunately, the numbers in this post only represent the drivers that police were able to catch. Hopefully these statistics will help encourage Pennsylvania drivers to operate their vehicles safely and avoid distractions at all costs. This could go a long way toward keeping Pennsylvania roads free of accidents and drivers out of harm's way.
Source: The Kittanning Paper, "State Police Report Nine Fatalities during Holiday Weekend," Sept. 8, 2011
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