'Et tu, Buick?' Driving also got riskier in 2020
DUIs were at more than two times the ratio of total violations compared with 2019, and major speeding incidents were also up, according to LexisNexis.
Despite fewer motorists on the roads in 2020, but in line with the disappointing spirit of the year, driving became a more risky proposition. DUIs increased significantly in terms of total violations compared with 2019 levels and major speeding tripled as a percentage of total speeding violations, according to LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
“Early analysis for 2020 driver violations indicates that amidst the pandemic, with exception of March and April, the volume of major violations has in fact increased in total,” said Tim Grant, senior director of auto underwriting at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “This would indicate a higher level of risk on our roads. It appears the greatest influencer impacting these results is an overall increase in the count of major speeding violations.”
DUIs, which were seeing nearly no change in ratio to total violations in early 2020, significantly increased come spring, according to LexisNexis. Compared with 2019, drunk driving incidents remain elevated at more than two times the ratio of total violations.
“DUIs as a percent of total violations have been observed as increasing during this pandemic, which would indicate greater risk on our roads. April saw the greatest reduction in count and relative change over prior year, however, each month following has seen an increase, and for those drivers under 25 years of age, they have rebounded very quickly to near 2019 numbers,” Grant said.
LexisNexis added DUI rates for females surpassed the rates for male drivers during the past year.
In addition to jumps in DUIs and major speeding, speed racing saw no reduction, according to LexisNexis, which does note these incidents are relatively low in terms of absolute numbers.
Offering more insights into auto incidents during 2020, QuoteWizard recently released a ranking of the states with the most accidents.
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