Yay for us! Highway death in the US dropped for the 15th straight quarter to the lowest levels seen since 1954. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration attributes the drop to lots of special campaigns and gadgety programs. We think it’s way simpler than that.
Our take? Gas is expensive, tons of people are broke and out of work, and as a result of that, fewer people are driving and crashing. Of course, using that logic would negate the millions of dollars that the government is spending on all of the nifty programs and initiatives that are used to prevet “distracted driving.”
Those programs have to be highly effective as it’s been at least 17 minutes since the last time we were nearly run off the road by a jerk drinking coffee and texting at the same time.
The numbers of how many people were killed in 2009 (the newest data available) are large, but pale in comparison to the size of the motoring public. 33,963 is the number the NHTSA is calling for out of the 2009 data, which works out to 1.16 deaths per 100 vehicle miles traveled.
We like this truly heroic sounding quote from NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, “We want to see those numbers drop further. We will not stop as long as there are still lives lost on our nation’s highways. We must continue our efforts to ensure seat belts are always used and stay focused on reducing distracted and impaired driving.”
Source — RoadsBridges.com — Traffic fatality rate falls to record low
