It is safe to assume that there are a lot of people in Ponca City anxiously waiting for it to be Friday. This weekend is especially anticipated due to an extra day off for many on Memorial Day. Many people across the nation take the opportunity of the long weekend to visit friends and family, whether they live in Oklahoma or another state.
Of course, many of these individuals will choose to drive to their destination this weekend. With it being one of the busiest traffic weekends of the year, there are bound to be a few negligent drivers on the roads as well. In fact, the National Safety Council released its estimates for the number of injury-causing accidents, and they aren’t very pretty.
The NSC predicts that approximately 40,900 injuries suffered in an accident will require at least a medical consultation. Approximately 382 people are expected to suffer fatal injuries. The president and CEO of the NSC, Deborah Hersman, hopes that these estimates prove to be inaccurate by the time the weekend is over.
“We issue these estimates to draw attention to risks on the roadways and encourage drivers to take extra precautions so needless tragedies can be prevented,” she said in a statement about the report.
What are these risks? There are the two big Ds: drunk driving and distracted driving. The NSC asks that individuals avoid participating in these behaviors. The group also wants individuals to use extra caution in inclement weather, wear seatbelts and properly restrain children. Wearing seatbelts alone could save 139 lives by preventing a serious crash from becoming a fatal accident, said the NSC.
Source: National Safety Council, “National Safety Council Estimates Nearly 400 Fatalities from Crashes this Memorial Day Weekend,” May 19, 2014
