Deadly traffic crashes are on the rise in Michigan, with more than 1,000 people losing their lives on state roads since 2020.
That’s according to the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning. They just released data from the Michigan State Police Justice Information Center, which highlights a disturbing five-year trend.
Katie Bower, the director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, Katie Bower said the number of traffic deaths on Michigan roads jumped 15% from 974 deaths in 2018 to 1,123 deaths in 2022.
“We started seeing some changes during the pandemic. driving behaviors have changed. We saw that there is an increase in speeding and other risk of risky behaviors such as impaired driving, aggressive behavior. The pandemic certainly seems to have been seen playing a part in those numbers increasing,” said Bower.
While there is a concerning five-year trend, traffic deaths slightly decreased by 1% in 2022, and serious injuries were also down 3%.
However, the overall number of crashes was 4% higher.
