The California Highway Patrol (CHP) recently announced that reckless drivers were taking unfair advantage of streets and freeways that have been effectively emptied due to the coronavirus shutdown. According to their reports, the amount of citations written for speeding in excess of 100 miles per hour has spiked 87%. The worst offender so far was clocked at going 165 mph on the I-5 near San Juan Capistrano.
From March 19th, 2020 to about April 19th, 2020, the CHP wrote 2,493 speeding tickets for 100-mph or higher speeders. In the same one-month period in 2019, only 1,335 of these citations were written. It is important to note that speeding tickets for lower speeds were not mentioned in the report, but it can be assumed that they have also increased noticeably.
Another Nationwide Issue
It seems that excessive speeding is not a problem in California alone, though. Law enforcement agencies across the country have reported similar speeding spikes in their own counties and states. Iowa, Georgia, Oregon, and others have all seen massive increases in the number of high-speed citations being issues during the pandemic. New York City recently made headlines after its speeding trap cameras sent out almost 25,000 automated citations in just a month.
The problem of excess speeding on emptier roads is compounded further when considering the crashes and traffic fatalities being caused by these reckless drivers. Officials from the National Safety Council (NSC) are worried that roadway deaths caused by speeding could double by the time the data is thorough enough to be analyzed. For example, Minnesota has already seen a doubling of its fatal car accidents since it began COVID-19 lockdown procedures, comparing the data to the same time period in 2019.
Know a Car Accident Attorney You Can Trust
With more speeding drivers on the roads than ever before, now is a good time to know a local car accident law firm. You never know when you will encounter a reckless driver while trying to make a quick trip to an essential business, like the grocery store down the street. With a law firm or attorney already known, you can get your car accident claim rolling quickly. The less you delay, the simpler it is for your legal counsel to start building your claim.
For those living in Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Monica, Pasadena, and the surrounding areas, McGee Lerer & Associates should be the first choice of legal representation after a car accident caused by a speeder. Our husband and wife team has more than 40 years of combined legal experience with a 100% focus on personal injury cases, especially those involving catastrophic injuries caused in violent car crashes. If you get hit by a speeding driver who was exploiting the emptier highways during the lockdown, then we want to know so we can see how we can help.
Call us at (310) 231-9717 to speak with a member of our team today. We are still accepting new clients during the coronavirus pandemic by using remote technologies whenever possible.