The year 2020 was a strange one for all of us. One side effect of having to work and go to school virtually was that there was much less traffic than usual on Miami’s highways and surface streets.
This was true statewide. As a result, car accidents went down in Florida in 2020 compared to 2019. However, the number of fatalities actually rose from 3,185 in 2019 to 3,332 the following year.
2021 was a bad year for major car wrecks
Then came 2021. As COVID-19 restrictions lifted and people gradually left their homes, Florida’s car accident statistics got even worse. In 2020, a total of 212,432 people were injured in car crashes in Florida. Last year, that number jumped to 252,973. This represents a 19 percent increase in just one year. The number of fatalities also rose from 3,332 to 3,737 year over year.
The numbers were quite consistent throughout 2021. The months with the fewest wrecks were January and February; the latter month was the only one with fewer than 30,000 crashes. The rest of the year averaged more than 30,000 accidents per month, peaking in December.
Things are getting more dangerous on the road
This is a disturbing trend. Nobody gets into their vehicle wondering if they will get to their destination safely. Most of the time, we do. But all it takes is one incident to take an individual’s life and devastate his family. Or if the victim survives, they could be left severely disabled, unable to work and requiring expensive equipment to survive.
Adjusting emotionally to the outcome of a serious car accident takes time. But nobody should have to bear the financial burden of a car accident along with the emotional fallout if that crash was the other driver’s fault.
