{"id":37741,"date":"2011-04-01T09:00:54","date_gmt":"2011-04-01T13:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=37741"},"modified":"2011-04-01T09:01:09","modified_gmt":"2011-04-01T13:01:09","slug":"u-s-highway-deaths-plunge-to-lowest-level-since-1949","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2011\/04\/u-s-highway-deaths-plunge-to-lowest-level-since-1949\/","title":{"rendered":"Highway Deaths Plunge to Lowest Level Since 1949"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Improved vehicle design gets some of the credit, experts say, for declining highway fatalities.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While officials caution it\u2019s still a sizable toll, U.S. highway deaths dropped to 32,788 last year, the lowest level since 1949, continuing a relatively steady decline that safety experts credit to a variety of factors.<\/p>\n

The 2010 number was a 3% drop from the year before, when 33,808 Americans were killed in motor vehicle and pedestrian collisions.\u00a0 And the 2009 number was itself a nearly 10% decline from the year before that.<\/p>\n

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News and Reviews You Can Use!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Despite the decline, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood sounded a cautionary note when releasing the data, stressing, “Too many of our friends and neighbors are killed in preventable roadway tragedies every day. We will continue doing everything possible to make cars safer, increase seat belt use, put a stop to drunk driving and distracted driving and encourage drivers to put safety first.”<\/p>\n

Exactly what is behind the latest dip in highway deaths is likely to trigger a flurry of debate.\u00a0 Often, in years past, sharp declines in the overall death toll accompanied economic downturns, when American motorists reined in discretionary driving.\u00a0 But that wasn\u2019t the case in 2010.<\/p>\n

After two years when U.S. motorists curbed their travel, driving distances increased again in 2009 and 2010.\u00a0 Yet, the actual death rate adjusted for the amount Americans drive dropped to a low not seen since the presidency of Harry Truman.\u00a0 The death rate per 100 million miles driven slipped to 1.13 in \u201909, before dropping again to 1.09 last year \u2013 the lowest figure, coincidentally, since 1949.<\/p>\n

Most experts agree on some factors behind the decline, notably the steady increase in seatbelt usage, which rose to 84% in 2009.\u00a0 Many states now can enforce belt laws without having to pull a motorist over for another violation.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s general agreement on the importance of the nationwide crackdown on drunk driving, a scourge that was once blamed for as much as half of all driving deaths.\u00a0 Delaying the drinking age for young drivers also gets credit, as do programs designed to restrict teens during their first years on the road.<\/p>\n

Give some credit to improved roadway design and the use of better safety features, such as crash barriers.<\/p>\n

Jack Peet, a former law enforcement officer and now traffic safety manager for AAA Michigan, also points to \u201cimproved emergency medical response,\u201d noting that a call to 911 will quickly bring trained personnel with life-saving equipment that wasn\u2019t available to ambulance crews of the past.<\/p>\n

Automotive manufacturers have unquestionably improved the design of their vehicles \u2013 so much so that federal regulators had to redesign some testing procedures since the majority of products were earning top ratings.<\/p>\n

“I think I’m going to take a little bit of credit here on our two years of really hammering on distracted driving,” said Secretary LaHood. “We’re not where we want to be, but we know with good laws and good enforcement, people will put their cell phones down and their Blackberries.”<\/p>\n

LaHood has declared distracted driving a \u201cdeadly epidemic.\u201d\u00a0 And there is general consensus some behaviors need be barred.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no disagreement about texting, which is not conducive to safe driving,\u201d emphasizes Louis Tijerina, a senior technical specialist with Ford Motor Co.\u2019s advanced engineering department.<\/p>\n

But other assertions are generating controversy.<\/p>\n

Some advocates, like AAA\u2019s Peet, question the safety of not only texting and the use of handheld phones but even hands-free Bluetooth systems and voice-operated navigation systems.\u00a0 The AAA even challenges the benefits promised by some new technologies designed to improve safety by warning drivers, for example, of a car hidden in their blind spot.\u00a0 This, the organization warns, can lead drivers to turn their attention away from the road believing the car itself will do the work.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf cellphones and all the other new technologies are so dangerous, why aren\u2019t we seeing carnage on the highways?\u201d asks Aaron Bragman, automotive analyst with the consulting firm IHS.<\/p>\n

While the debate over distracted driving \u2013 and what steps should be taken \u2013 will likely continue, experts agree on the need to keep pressing to improve highway safety.<\/p>\n

“We can never sit back on our laurels,\u201d said Sec. LaHood, \u201cnot when 30-thousand people have lost their lives. So we’re going to continue our efforts.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. highway fatalities dropped to their lowest since 1949 – notably even though Americans drove more last year. TheDetroitBureau.com looks at the reasons – and some controversies – behind the decline in the death total.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37741"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=37741"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=37741"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=37741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}