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Transcript/ScriptPandemic Risky Behavior TV HEAD: Why US Traffic Deaths, Drug Overdoses Skyrocketed During the Pandemic TEASER: Statistics suggest Americans are behaving more recklessly, DATE: PUBLISHED AT: 1/27/2022 at 11:55am BYLINE: Dora Mekouar DATELINE: Washington CAMERA: Saqib Ul Islam VIDEO EDITOR: Saqib Ul Islam
PROUCER: Saqib Ul Islam
COPY EDITOR: MAS, AP
VIDEO FROM: AP, AFP, Reuters COURTESIES NEEDED: TYPE: VPKGN TRT: 2:36 VIDEO APPROVER'S INITIALS: MAS UPDATE: ))
((INTRO))
[[U-S traffic deaths and drug overdoses skyrocketed in 2021. VOA’s Dora Mekouar examines how the pandemic might be prompting Americans to behave more recklessly.]]
((NATS UP FULL ambulance/police siren or vehicle accident scene))
((NARRATOR))
A dramatic spike in traffic deaths. A record number of drug overdoses. As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, there are distressing indicators that more Americans are engaging in risky behavior.
((NATS up full ambulance/police siren or vehicle accident scene))
((Jane Terry, National Safety Council)) “There is an effect from the pandemic. And certainly, it has shown up in the way that we show up at work, the way we show up for our families, the way we are behind the
wheel, and certainly the decisions we make when we have the choice to consume substances.”
((NARRATOR)) More than 38-thousand people died on U-S roads during the first year of the pandemic. That’s the most since 2007.
((Shannon Frattaroli, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research & Policy)) “We're seeing less use of seatbelts, higher rates of speed on the roads. We're seeing greater use of substances which affects how people are driving and the risks that they take when they're on the roads.”
((NARRATOR)) The pandemic has heightened job and economic uncertainty for many Americans. And impacted interpersonal relationships.
((Shannon Frattaroli, Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research & Policy)) “The ability to connect with other people in person has been limited. We're increasingly isolated.”
((NARRATOR)) A record number of people … more than 96-thousand … died of drug overdoses in the United States in 2021. That’s a 30-percent jump over the previous year.
((Maria Espinola, Clinical Psychologist)) “We know that substance abuse increased during the pandemic. A lot of people use alcohol and drugs to cope with the stress that we're experiencing. So, some people were already having issues prior to the pandemic that got worse. And then some people, who had no issues before, experienced such high levels of the stress that they used substances to cope.”
((:02 NATS UP FULL – traffic at four-way intersection))
((NARRATOR)) There are potential remedies. For example, the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury
Research says traffic deaths can be mitigated if infrastructure money is used to take driver human error into account. For example, accident-prone four-way intersections can be replaced with traffic circles known as roundabouts.
((:02 NATS UP FULL – traffic at traffic circle))
((NARRATOR)) When it comes to substance abuse, the National Safety Council says U.S. employers should step up to increase job benefits to include more treatment and recovery services.
((NARRATOR)) But, for now, this epidemic within a pandemic shows no signs of slowing down.
((NARRATOR)) Dora Mekouar. VOA News. Washington.
