NORFOLK, Va. — People are loading the car and hitting the road to spend time with loved ones for Thanksgiving.
Some auto and traffic groups are estimating we will hit pre-pandemic levels for people on the road.
As more people are on the road this year than last, AAA says crashes and deaths have increased since 2019.
Speed, distractions and a short fuse: all contribute to crashes on the road.
"You are not the only one that is impacted by yourself on the road. You are impacting everyone around you," said AAA spokesperson Ryan Adcock.
Here in Hampton Roads, our number of crashes has jumped significantly in the last two years.
In 2019, 38 people in the seven cities died as a result of a crash.
This year, that number went up to 59.
"We’re seeing that more congestion on the roads, but those comfort levels are still like they were during the pandemic," said Adcock.
Norfolk had the most crashes overall with 835 so far this year and 10 fatalities. That's compared to 758 crashes and seven fatalities in 2019.
In Chesapeake, they had three traffic fatalities in 2019 with 425 crashes. This year, they’ve had 11 fatalities and 407 crashes.
Portsmouth’s numbers have also risen from two to seven fatalities from 2019 to 2021. Their number of crashes went from 185 to 270.
Hampton also saw a jump from 358 crashes and three fatalities in 2019 to 484 crashes and 9 fatalities this year.
Virginia Beach stayed somewhat level between 2019 and 2021. They went from 12 fatalities and 538 crashes two years ago to 15 fatalities and 560 crashes this year.
Newport News also stayed pretty level with 416 crashes and five fatalities in 2019 and 486 crashes and five fatalities this year. However, they did see 11 fatalities in 2020.
Suffolk is the only city that saw a drop in fatalities. They went from six in 2019 to two this year. They saw 155 crashes in 2019 and 164 this year.
Adcock says they link that rise in not only deaths, but also in the number of crashes to a couple of reasons.
"People are definitely less patient and then more apt to speeding because they were able to get places faster during the pandemic because there was that less traffic and less congestion," he said.
AAA says you’d need to drive 100 miles to save roughly 5 minutes driving at 80 miles per hour instead of 75.
They also say they’re expecting to respond to over 400,000 calls for help over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates the economic cost of speed-related crashes is about $52 billion each year.
To keep yourself and others on the road safe, Adcock says slow down and be patient.
"We’ve been telling people to ‘pack your patience' while they’re on the road," he said. "Really just giving yourself that time cushion."