A recent study reveals that nationally, motor vehicle deaths outweigh gun deaths. But in 10 states, including Virginia, death by the bullet is the bigger cause.
The study was done by the Violence Policy Center in Washington, DC. They did a state-by-state analysis using government data from 2009, the most recent year the state data is available. The researchers found that there were more than 5,000 more motor vehicle-related deaths in 2009 than firearm deaths. Although Virginia is not in line with the national trend, Albemarle is.
There are very few homicides in the county, but motor vehicle deaths still remain high. For instance, last year Albemarle County had one homicide, but 21 car-related fatalities. Albemarle Police Sergeant Darrell Byers says that there's plenty to be done to get those numbers down.
"That's been our focus and that's been one of the things we've been looking at," he said. "We've been looking at crash data and analyzing it to see what it is we need to do to make roads in Albemarle County more safe."
In an annual report by the Albemarle County Police Department, the county ranked second in the country for average yearly traffic fatalities.
