WSJ: Fatal Car Crashes Start to Decline in US

[Peter Ward]

WSJ said:

FOR THE FIRST TIME in six years, traffic fatalities declined on American roads -- a development that regulators credit not to safer driving but to safer vehicles and wider use of seat belts. The decline was slight -- to 42,643 deaths last year, 362 fewer than in 2002, according to government figures released yesterday. Still, the decline came even while people were driving more, meaning the ratio of traffic deaths to miles driven fell to a record of 1.48 fatalities for every 100 million miles driven. Alcohol-related traffic deaths, while still high at 17,013, fell nearly 3%, reversing a three-year trend. One significant caution for drivers was that despite the great deal of attention being paid to safety issues surrounding sport-utility vehicles, the number of fatalities in SUVs from rollover accidents increased 7%, amid a 12% increase in the number of SUVs on the roads. Overall, the news was particularly welcome because the number of traffic deaths had increased 2% in 2002, the highest level in a decade, and initial estimates released this year suggested traffic fatalities in 2003 would be even higher, alarming consumer advocates. A confluence of events last year appears to have contributed to the lower fatality figures. Seat-belt use has risen to 79% last year from 75% in 2002. Some states have been passing tougher seat-belt laws and government regulators have funded campaigns to promote the restraints, including grants to local police forces to ticket drivers who aren't wearing their seat belts. In Ohio, for example, seat-belt use rose to about 75% of the state's population who say they buckle up -- an increase of almost four percentage points from 2002. Last year, the state saw a 10% decline in traffic fatalities -- one of the highest in the nation. Vehicles also have simply become safer, as front air bags became standard equipment in all new cars. Safety remains one of the concerns most often cited by consumers when purchasing new cars, which hasn't been lost on auto makers. Manufacturers now are offering side-impact air bags, which can help occupants of cars hit by larger sport-utility vehicles, as optional and sometimes standard equipment on more vehicles. Safer roadways contributed to the improved crash statistics as well, says Kathryn Swanson, chairwoman of the Governors Highway Safety Association and director of the Minnesota Office of Traffic Safety. "I wish I could say it's safer drivers," she says, "but I'm afraid that's probably not it." An increase in SUV rollover fatalities remains a troubling spot in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's report. The issue is likely to be of major concern to SUV owners and car buyers, particularly in light of data released Monday that showed more than a third of the most popular new SUVs road-tested by the NHTSA last year tipped up on two wheels, the precursor to a rollover crash. Manufacturers increasingly are installing new safety systems in SUVs to prevent rollovers, such as electronic stability-control systems, since the vehicles remain more prone to rollovers than cars or pickup trucks. Still, the improvements haven't yet led to reduced fatalities. Another area of concern: Motorcycle fatalities continued a six-year trend and jumped 12% to 3,661, as an increasing number of aging baby boomers have taken to purchasing the machines for weekend rides. The number of those riders injured, but not killed, during motorcycle accidents also increased last year, by 2,000 to 67,000. "It's not necessarily the 20- to 29-year-olds who are crashing," Ms. Swanson says. Older drivers aren't driving cautiously enough "even though they haven't been on a bike in 20 years." Meanwhile, in a separate study released yesterday, nearly 60% of high-school students said their driving habits are influenced by their parents. That was especially worrisome since two-thirds of the teens said their parents talk on cellphones while driving, and a third said their parents don't wear seat belts. Children under 20 accounted for 8% of traffic fatalities last year, down 4% from 2002, according to the NHTSA report. Nearly two-thirds of teens killed in auto accidents last year weren't wearing seat belts. In April, NHTSA researchers forecast at least 1,000 more traffic deaths last year than actual figures showed. Officials say they still are investigating why their statistical modeling system was so wrong, but one reason they pointed to was a decrease in fatalities because of higher seat-belt usage, up four percentage points nationally from 2002. A whiff of politics could be detected during the NHTSA's announcement yesterday, when Norman Mineta, the Transportation secretary and lone Democrat in President Bush's cabinet, said the decline in fatalities was "the result of a focused effort by the Bush administration to make America's roads safer." The Bush administration has enjoyed some success convincing states to pass "primary" seat-belt laws, which allow law enforcement to pull over drivers simply for not wearing their seat belts. Currently, 22 states have primary seat-belt laws, with six passing the tougher seat-belt laws since 2000, the most recent being Tennessee.

Good news for the US, of course. There, improvements are attributed to safer cars, safer roads and more use of seatbelts. Here, it's solely due to speed cameras. I feel the US reasons are equally relevant in UK, which does indicate that cameras have even less impact than the authorities would like us to believe.

[Bobbins]

I know the US is a big place but with 5 times our population they have 10 times as many fatalities. Maybe they're driving many more miles than we do?
Interesting comment about mobile phone - I was in Los Angeles recently being driven in a mini-bus and it became a novelty to see someone who wasn't talking on a phone.
I also read a local newspaper that had a page of accident reports - it was noticable that in the reports it gave a fairly detailed cause for most of the accidents (whereas in the UK we never seem quite sure, even after an investigation). Also, I think without exception, the people killed were not wearing seatbelts and several had been thrown out of their vehicles.

[mechsympathy]

WSJ said:

A whiff of politics could be detected during the NHTSA's announcement yesterday, when Norman Mineta, the Transportation secretary and lone Democrat in President Bush's cabinet, said the decline in fatalities was "the result of a focused effort by the Bush administration to make America's roads safer."

Politicians are the same everywhere. It's a fall of less than 1% FFS, it's hardly statistically significant.

[Peter Ward]

It's a good job their effort wasn't unfocused then!