Georgia Injury Law Blog
In 2017, 40% of automobile marketing focused on the performance or speed of the cars. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, such promotion of speeds can undermine efforts towards reducing car accidents numbers resulting in a significant number of personal injuries and wrongful deaths.
According to the analysis, the percentage of automobile marketing that focuses on performance has not budged much over the past few decades. In 1998, for instance, as much as half of all automobile marketing efforts focused on the speed of the vehicle while in 2017, that number had dropped to 40%. Clearly, automobile manufacturers continue to feel comfortable emphasizing the performance and speed of these vehicles. Unfortunately, when it comes to automobiles and their features, a clip of a speeding car is not just another advertisement. Rather, it can encourage motorists to engage in dangerous and risky driving behaviors like driving at high speeds.
Every year, as many as 12,000 people are killed in auto accidents caused directly by a speeding driver. More than 300,000 people are injured in such accidents. The number of people being injured and killed in speeding- related car accidents has increased over the past few years with a spike during the pandemic. During those months when lockdowns ensured fewer vehicles on the road, too many motorists drove at high speeds, complacent in the knowledge that they would not be cited for speeding violations. Unfortunately, those behaviors have continued even after the pandemic ended and traffic volumes went back to normal.
It is not just the young, like teen motorists and novice drivers, who are at risk of being influenced by the subliminal messages broadcast by advertisements that focus on the speed of the car. Even experienced motorists can fall into this trap. It is time for federal Agencies like the Federal Communications Commission to better regulate these advertisements. The Federal Communications Commission no longer allows the advertisements of tobacco products because of the dangers to consumers from using these products. Perhaps it is now time to place some kinds of restrictions on the manner in which automobile manufacturers can advertise as well, considering that thousands of people are killed and many more injured every year in car accidents directly involving speeding.
Until that time, automakers must reevaluate their promotion and marketing strategies and step back from showing speeding in an attractive light. These strategies must be reassessed against the backdrop of the increasing speeding – related car accident wrongful deaths being recorded every year.
The Atlanta car accident lawyers at Katz Personal Injury Lawyers are dedicated to the representation of persons who have suffered injuries in car accidents in the metro Atlanta region and across the state of Georgia. If you or a loved one have suffered injuries in a car accident, talk to a lawyer at our firm and discuss your legal options for a claim for damages. You may qualify for damages that include medical costs, lost income, and other forms of compensation. Talk to an attorney at our firm, and discuss your case. Initial consultations are free.