One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is the increased number of accidents. Whether the accident occurs because of the weather, or in an automobile, more people seem to get involved in accidents as folks are hurriedly rushing to complete last-minute tasks before settling down for holiday activities.

KOCO, Oklahoma’s ABC affiliate had an interesting feature story about the increased number automobile accidents in Oklahoma County. (Here’s the same story from KFOR).

The reporter stated that the number of automobile accidents in Oklahoma County caused by red-light-runners since 2008 was 8,000.

At first sound, I thought that wasn’t such an impressive number. However, consider this:

In 2009 red-light-runners will cause an average of almost 1 accident per hour. (8,000/2 = 4000; 365/4000 = 21; 21/24 = 0.875 or ~ 1)

That’s an insane statistic, if true!

You know that the average wait at a red light isn’t more than a couple of minutes; yet, why do we insist on playing "Russian roulette" with our commute sometimes? Slowing down, and taking a little extra time to get somewhere isn’t such a big deal. It’s especially more important than causing an accident that results in injury, or worse, death.