Study: Driving On Election Day Could Be Hazardous To Your Health

A version of this post is published on Why Tuesday? as well as OffTheBus.

Driving on Tuesday Election Day may be hazardous to your health, so says NPR's health policy correspondent Patti Neighmond.

A new report by Dr. Donald Redelmeier in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicates all of the rushing associated with our Election Day, smack in the middle of the work week, increases the likelihood of disabling or fatal accidents.

Redelmeier studied the U.S. in particular, he says, because this country maintains excellent statistics on vehicle crashes, noting exactly what time of day, when, where, vehicle, type and other information. He compared the number of crashes, injuries and deaths on Election Day Tuesday to the Tuesdays before and after.

His research revealed an 18 percent increase in motor vehicle deaths on voting day. "This equaled about 24 people [deaths] per election," Redelmeier says, adding that "this was remarkably consistent across different locations and years."

Redelmeier also found that about 800 more people suffered disabling injuries as a result of the crashes. These injuries and deaths far outnumber those reported during times associated with an increase in drinking and driving, such as Super Bowl Sunday and New Year's Eve. Unlike on those days, Redelmeier says, alcohol didn't seem to be an issue on voting day. And the crash rate didn't increase in the evening, when people might be more likely to drink.

It may just be that emotions run high on voting day, he says. "There's an election going on -- everybody's talking about it, paying attention to polls when maybe they should be paying more attention to driving."

In the end, Redelmeier can't say exactly why people crashed. He thinks they may have been speeding, trying to fit voting into hectic schedules. Research has already shown speeding significantly increases the risk of car accidents and deaths.

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So the message for American voters on Election Day is this: Keep your eye on the road -- and slow down.

How's this for an alternate message? Maybe we should vote on the weekend or a National Holiday, when Americans aren't as pressed for time.

Don't know why we vote on Tuesday? Click here for the answer, and to find out what Barack Obama and John McCain think about Tuesday voting.

Car under American flag photo by Thomas Hawk on Flickr.

Why Tuesday? is an effort to make America's democracy stronger through increased voter participation; we work to make election reform an issue that our politicians cannot afford to avoid. Read more campaign coverage from OffTheBus by clicking here.

Comments

[hypnotoad72]

Or, like days or weeks before an election, tons of supporters for candidate X decide to hang out at major intersections, holding up big signs and making loud noises to assist in distracting drivers and causing a scene. Even at intersections where one corner contained a POLICE DEPARTMENT and yet they weren't arrested for any form of loitering, disturbance, et cetera.

Asinine.

I think the message is this: If anybody wants to disrupt traffic to yell their petty views, let the cops take them or the drivers run them over because being a bellicose distraction isn't going to help anybody and might hurt others. Can't they hurt themselves and leave everyone else alone instead?