Weather-related accidents in 2021 showed what trend?

• A. Decreased in total but increased in fatalities
• B. Decreased in fatalities
• C. Increased in total but decreased in fatalities
• D. Stayed the same in both total and fatalities

Answer: (A)

Understanding how trends in weather-related traffic events can differ between total incidents and fatalities helps interpret this item. In 2021, the total number of weather-related accidents decreased, but the number of fatalities from those accidents increased. This means fewer crashes occurred overall, yet a larger share of them were deadly, or the crashes that did happen were more severe. Possible reasons include more damaging weather events, higher severity of crashes (such as on slippery or flooded roads), or factors that made each incident more lethal (like higher speeds or longer emergency response times). The key idea is that total incidents and fatalities don’t have to move together; one can go down while the other goes up.