Everything about modern vehicle design is intended to make us feel safe and isolated from the outside world. And if we look back at history, we quickly realize it’s more than just a feeling — it’s backed by mountains of data. There’s been a 95-percent improvement regarding fatalities in the last hundred years because of new and better safety systems combined with significant advancements in medical technology; the vast majority of automobile accidents are now survivable.
Yet, per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of fatal accidents increased by 28-percent nationwide over the last several years. While percentages of survivability are useful when crafting public policy, they’re cold comfort for someone bleeding out on a boulevard — and anyone who has been driving for more than five years has noticed the recent increase in driver aggression. One might be tempted to blame these deaths on a post-pandemic mindset, but these numbers were increasing before anyone had ever even heard of COVID-19. The number of registered vehicles on U.S. roadways continues to climb, increasing roughly 4 percent from 2017 to 2021, while road infrastructure in many parts of the country has stagnated.
Despite what talking heads vomit from their mouths, the general spike in violence lessened to pre-lockdown levels in 2022, but vehicular, most notably as one of the vehicles exits the highway so the shooter increases the odds of a clean getaway. It doesn’t take much to set off a road-raging maniac, and despite our vehicles’ myriad safety features meant to protect us from collisions, they offer little to no protection from incoming rounds.
