The Growing Cost of Traffic: Lives Lost

Though it’s been mentioned before, the cost of lives due to traffic bears mentioning again as even one death is too much. As Tennessee sees exponential growth in population, especially here in Middle Tennessee with Franklin and Murfreesboro being two of the fastest growing cities state-wide, there has also been an increase in the number of traffic related injuries and fatalities.

Related Reading: Rating Nashville’s Commuter Traffic

Unfortunately, 2016 was a record year for traffic related deaths since 2008 when officials began implementing extra enforcement and campaigns like “Booze it and Lose it” and “Click it or Ticket.” While the deaths in 2008 are higher than in 2016, sadly 2017 looks like another bad year in regards to traffic related injuries and deaths.

To date, 2017 has had 13 more deaths than 2016 and as we head into the fall and winter months, traffic fatalities typically rise. In July this year, there were 115 deaths –  a high for the year; in August there were 71 deaths.

It wouldn’t be surprising to anyone to know that 2016 was also a record year for injuries related to traffic causes. It is the highest at just over 51,000 injuries since at least 2007. Not only do we have more traffic accidents, we have more injuries, and we have more deaths.

What can be done to change these statistics?

With the Middle Tennessee boom, there are more people on the roads. According to TDOT Traffic History, traffic counts among Nashville roads are just above 164,000 vehicles on average, with numbers ranging closer to 170,000 in other places. And only about 10% of commuters in the greater Nashville area carpool. We can reduce the number of cars on the roads by grabbing a ride with a friend, co-worker or spouse and help change these devastating statistics.

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