Kansas City Traffic Accident Reports – First responders work at the scene of a crash on February 24, 2023 at 51st Street and Prospect Avenue.
No one expects to die violently while driving or walking, but in 2023, this nightmare claims to happen twice a week in Kansas City. And while the number of deaths across the country is slightly lower, so is crossing the street. As dangerous as it has been for decades.
Kansas City Traffic Accident Reports
The 100 or so Americans who woke up this morning will be dead by the end of the day, cut into steel or dumped on the side of the road. Every day is like a plane crash.
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“It’s friends, it’s family, it’s neighbors, it’s co-workers,” said Russ Martin, senior director of policy and government relations for the Governor’s Highway Safety Association.
Bad habits increase the number of deaths due to epidemics. Traffic deaths had been declining for decades, but people were driving more miles on the road each year.
Estimates have risen, but the number of fatal crashes is expected to hit a 16-year high of 42,915 in 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The next year was almost as bad, with only 120 fewer deaths in 2022.
In 2021, traffic deaths were even higher in Kansas City, where 103 people died on streets and highways that year. This is the highest rate in at least three decades (and more than double the number killed in 2014).
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In 2022, the total number in Kansas City will be 90, but last year, 102 people died in accidents in the city. The number of people killed in traffic accidents nationwide decreased by 3 percent during the year, but increased by 13 percent in Kansas City.
“The main reasons we see are speeding, speeding, break-ins and not wearing a seat belt,” said Kansas City Police Sergeant Jonathan Rivers.
This is the big change before the pandemic: how people move behind the wheel. Faster drivers are driving faster than ever, drinkers are more intoxicated, and marijuana and drug use are more common. And of course people are looking at their phones.
In Kansas City, the police department’s traffic enforcement division has shrunk to less than half its size four years ago, Rivers said.
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“People think they can drive however they want because they don’t see officers on the highway like they used to,” he said.
It’s not just Kansas City. Police departments across the country have reported staff cuts following resignations and retirements following the pandemic and protests over the killing of George Floyd. Rivers said traffic enforcement units could be particularly hard hit because they don’t respond to priority emergency calls.
Said Mark Chung, executive director of the National Safety Council’s traffic enforcement division. “Nationally, they’re down considerably.
It will take several months to collect and verify data on accidents across the country, but Chun said the number of road deaths would drop by 3% to 40,000 by 2023. Since Americans now drive more, this is a big improvement. But it’s still worse than before the pandemic.
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“The delta between this and pre-2019 pandemic levels is 6,000 or even 7,000 lives,” Chung said.
And nowadays it is dangerous to drive a car, walk on the roads, even from the side. Last year, the number of pedestrian deaths in the United States reached the highest level since 1981.
“For the past few years, we’ve been in the middle of a pedestrian safety crisis, with pedestrians being hit and killed,” Martin said.
Martin said the number of pedestrian fatalities has increased nearly 80 percent in a decade, resulting in at least 7,508 pedestrian fatalities last year.
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Some of these actions are linked to factors that cause traffic accidents, especially bad driver habits. However, the number of pedestrian deaths has been increasing over the years. Vehicle design and consumer choice are partly responsible.
“Cars are safe for passengers. They were not for non-residents,” Chen said. “In fact, it’s more dangerous for those who haven’t lived in the last 20 years.”
These newer, longer, sleeker, sleeker pickups and SUVs are especially dangerous compared to smaller sedans. 45 percent more likely to hit a pedestrian, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. And they are popular. SUVs and trucks account for two-thirds of new vehicle sales.
Although the reasons for the increase in road accidents are known, it is difficult to reduce them. Traffic experts say it’s possible by improving road and vehicle design, emergency responding and policing, and convincing America’s 230 million drivers to be more careful. The National Safety Council has set a target of reducing the number of people killed in road traffic accidents to zero by 2050.
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“It’s destroying our communities,” he said. “We see young lives being taken away. We have to stop it.”
I’m almost 30 years old and work part-time at NPR, splitting my time between local and national reporting. I am working to pay more attention to people in the Midwest, my home state of Kansas, and of course Kansas City. What I love about this job is connecting with interesting people and then getting the license to create radio stories that go with their voices. To stand up for the truth of these stories and bring them together for the many listeners of the radio is a huge responsibility and I take it seriously. Email me at @frank or find me on Twitter @FrankNewsman.
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