Sadly, there are things that can cause a holiday to quickly turn tragic. One such thing are car accidents. Holiday auto accidents sometimes result in fatalities. The death of a loved one in a car accident can be crushing for a family under any circumstances; it can be particularly so when it happens over the holidays.
Thus, one would always hope that holiday traffic accidents would be trending downward here in Michigan. Some preliminary numbers were recently released regarding state traffic fatality totals for the holiday weekend that happened last weekend, Memorial Day weekend. The bad news is that there were traffic deaths over this holiday weekend this year. The encouraging thing about the numbers though is that they are considerably lower than the numbers from last year.
Last year, there were 19 fatal traffic accidents in Michigan over the Memorial Day weekend period. The death total from these crashes was 20.
Both the preliminary numbers for fatal crash total and traffic fatality total for this year's Memorial Day weekend period in Michigan are less than half the totals from last year. According to the preliminary numbers, the state saw six fatal crashes during the holiday weekend period this year and these crashes, overall, resulted in eight deaths.
As a note, as the numbers for this year are preliminary numbers, there is the potential they could change.
One wonders if the drop in Memorial Day weekend fatal traffic accidents and traffic deaths that Michigan apparently experienced this year was caused by any particular trends among Michigan drivers or Michigan law enforcement.
Do you think things were, all in all, safer out on Michigan's roads this past Memorial Day weekend? What things do you think were responsible for the fatal crash/traffic fatality drops that the preliminary numbers point to? Do you think the state might see similar drops in upcoming holiday weekends, like Fourth of July weekend? What do you think it is most important for Michigan drivers to do safety-wise when it comes to driving over the holidays?
Source: NBC 25, "Traffic deaths down during Memorial Day holiday weekend," May 28, 2015