The pandemic has triggered a dramatic surge in speeding, reckless driving, and deadly crashes. Why?
What’s gone wrong?
America’s highways, city avenues, residential streets, and rural backroads are more dangerous than ever, as motorists who’ve been unhinged by the pandemic are driving like maniacs. In 2020, despite millions of workers staying home and traffic plummeting, there were an estimated 38,680 U.S. auto-related deaths—a 7 percent increase from 2019. As traffic started to normalize last year, roadway deaths jumped 18 percent, marking the biggest six-month increase since the federal government began tracking fatal crashes in 1975. There’s been a surge of single-vehicle accidents and daredevil speeding, with California in 2020 issuing nearly 28,500 tickets to drivers topping 100 mph. Tragedies are piling up: Yolanda Bozonier, 59, of Pomona, Calif., was killed…