Golf cart ER injuries

Between 2005 and 2022, American meteor sightings reported and American golf cart ER injuries climbed together (r = 0.957), which is the kind of correlation that feels like a short essay about how the sky and the ground of the United States have both become more unruly. A fireball streaks overhead in Arizona; a golf cart rolls at The Villages. Both are reported promptly, thanks to a phone.

Fireball meteor sightings reported to the American Meteor Society grew from about 800 per year in 2005 to over 9,000 by 2022, almost entirely due to smartphones making the reporting form a 90-second errand; golf cart ER injuries grew from about 6,300 to over 18,000 as retirement-community cart traffic expanded and as more jurisdictions allowed street-legal carts. Both trends are symptoms of better measurement more than more underlying activity: the meteors were always there, the carts were always available to tip, and the 21st century simply made it easier to document both when they occurred.

The sky is reported. The cart rolls to a halt. Both events logged more diligently than their predecessors.