Breaking News for Culpeper and Warrenton Accident Victims

2011 Virginia Car Accidents on the Rise

Posted on Jan 16, 2012

AAA Mid-Atlantic recently released car accident statistics that showed a 2.9 percent nationwide decline in fatalities from 2009 to 2010 and a drop in Virginia from 758 to 740 (2.4 percent) over the same period.
The Virginia State Police keeps their own statistics, and they indicate that the trend in 2011 is not as favorable as in previous years. State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller declared that, as of December 22^nd, the number of people killed in traffic accidents in 2011 had reached 731, which is compared to 713 at the same date in 2010.
Geller put these figures in perspective, pointing out that 2010 had been a record low year. She added that part of the increase in 2011 may be the result of several multiple-fatality crashes.
2011 saw a number of double-fatality accidents in Appomattox County and a bus crash in Caroline County that left 4 people dead.
Factors behind these fatal crashes include speeding, driver fatigue, distracted driving, and drunken driving.
“It compounds if they’re not wearing a seatbelt and they strike a guardrail or embankment and overturn, they end up being thrown out of the vehicle,” Geller added.
Several recent fatal accident victims are not included in the Virginia State Police statistics: James Haythe, who was hit by a vehicle in Lynchburg last week, and Justin Christopher Love, who was killed on Christmas Day when he lost control of his van on Virginia 1022.