Safety Tips

Highway Death Toll Stuck in Neutral

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Every 15 minutes someone in the United States learns that a loved one has died in a traffic crash. Every day 119 people die on American roads and highways — more than 40,000 each year.

Surprisingly, that grim crash fatality statistic has held steady for the past two decades — even as cars have become more crashworthy and sophisticated safety features more widely available. "When it comes to highway deaths and injuries we are stuck in neutral," said Jackie Gillan, vice president of Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, on her organization's Web site.

Gillan and other safety advocates hope that new Web-based data and legislative reform could jump-start highway safety efforts and finally make inroads toward lowering the death rate.

Calculating and lowering personal risk
An innovative new database has been designed to address the long-standing complacency regarding crash fatalities. TrafficSTATS allows drivers to assess their personal traffic crash risks. The interactive format, created by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety and Carnegie Mellon University, combines highway death statistics with data about driving behavior for the first time. Users can choose from millions of variables such as location, type of vehicle and even time of day to analyze hazards they face in their driving routines.

For instance, two women could use TrafficSTATS to decide when to schedule a getaway from Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe and whether to drive a car or an SUV. Since it's a long trip, they could use the risk factor ratio related to distance (deaths per 100 million miles traveled) and select the appropriate age range, gender and geographic region. For February, the risk ratios are 0.46 for the car and 0.21 for the SUV; for May, 0.53 for the car and 1.58 for the SUV. Notice that the SUV looks like a safer bet in February, but if they travel in May, the women might choose the car.

Unfortunately, a driver's safety depends on more than good planning; it also requires skill and conscientious awareness. The National Safety Council offers a defensive driving course on its Web site, as well as a special report with the grisly title, "How Good Drivers Get Killed." Produced in conjunction with Reader's Digest, it identifies potentially deadly driving situations. (For more advice on protecting yourself, see our tips on how to prevent car accidents and reduce cell phone distraction.)

Automakers also offer technology in new cars to help prevent traffic crashes, though the more advanced features are often sold as pricey optional equipment. Some of the newer adaptive cruise control systems will actually apply the brakes and tighten seatbelts after sensing changes in traffic speed. Lane-departure warning systems use sound or flashing lights to alert a driver if their car is drifting between lanes. Check out our article on safety technologies for more information, including which automakers offer them and estimated costs.

Combating teen deaths
Certain highway death patterns repeat themselves with tragic predictability. For decades, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has reported that traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for people under 21 years old. The crash fatality rate for children under 14 has actually dropped over the last 10 years, while totals for 15- to 20-year-old drivers rose 4 percent. Jeffrey Runge, former head of NHTSA, responded to the growing number of young lives being lost. "If there were a disease that was wiping out our teenagers at the rate of thousands per year, there would be no end to what we would do as a society to stop that."

Government and automakers, working both independently and together, are attempting to put the brakes on crash fatalities among young drivers. Graduated driver licensing, which requires teenage drivers to gain experience in controlled steps under adult supervision, has been implemented in 44 states. Massachusetts legislators are even considering increasing the driving age to 17 1/2. The Governors Highway Safety Association and Ford Motor Company Fund created a Web-based training program to appeal to teens, Driving Skills for Life, featuring video training modules, interactive games and prizes such as laptop computers and digital cameras. Other automakers, such as Toyota and DaimlerChrysler, have programs or Web sites aimed at teen safety as well.

The seatbelt fight
Thousands of lives, young and old, could be saved with a click. Although shoulder/lap belt usage increased from 58 percent in 1994 to 81 percent in 2006, according to the NHTSA, more than half the occupants killed in passenger vehicle traffic crashes were unbelted. Highway death statistics are influenced by many factors, but increased safety restraint use is credited with helping to lower fatality figures of children under 14, mentioned earlier, and a 16-percent drop in passenger car deaths between 1994 and 2005.

So what can be done to bring the stragglers on board? The 2005 Omnibus Highway Safety Act mandates federal research on effective seatbelt reminder technologies, such as flashing lights, to confirm rear-seat safety belt use. Safety groups advocate the passage of primary seatbelt laws in every state that would allow police officers to ticket those not wearing seatbelts. And in Europe, manufacturers are testing seat reminders that increase in volume as the car's speed increases. Other groups propose lowering insurance premiums for automobiles with seatbelt-use reminders.

Campaign against drunk driving
Second only to riding unbelted, drunk driving is the deadliest risk factor for both drivers and passengers. Although the number of annual alcohol-related highway deaths has declined slightly over the last decade, 29 percent of all the crash fatalities in 2005 involved a driver with a measurable blood alcohol concentration (BAC). Most of the drunk drivers killed had a BAC higher than twice the legal limit. Drivers age 21-24 have the highest percentage of alcohol-related deaths.

In response, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) announced a major campaign in 2006 to eliminate all drunk driving. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), NHTSA, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and other national organizations have joined MADD in endorsing mandatory installation of ignition interlock technology in the vehicles of all convicted drunk drivers.

These devices measure alcohol concentration of the driver's blood and lock the car's ignition if the BAC is above the legal limit. Washington and New Mexico have passed laws making ignition interlocks mandatory after one drunk driving offense; other states require the device after repeat offenses. As the technology improves, MADD and its allies want all vehicles to be equipped with interlocks.

"So many factors contribute to traffic crashes — drinking, reckless behavior, distractions, to name a few," said Dr. Tom Esposito, M.D., M.P.H., co-chair of the Coalition to End Needless Death on Our Roadways. "Reducing the number of highway deaths must also be approached from many angles — education, incentives, legislation and enforcement of the laws as well as technology."

Reviewing the statistics on traffic crashes underscores the point that you're taking your life into your own hands every time you get behind the wheel. That doesn't mean you shouldn't enjoy the drive, of course; rather it's a reminder that we need to be vigilant in uncovering and addressing the recurrent causes of crash fatalities. Improved driver instruction, increased seatbelt usage, more sophisticated safety technology -- they're all part of the solution.