There were still more than 30,000 highway fatalities in 2010 -- many readily preventable.
U.S. highway fatalities fell to their lowest level ever last year when adjusted to reflect the ever increasing number of miles driven by American motorists.
But the good news was tempered by the fact that federal data showed one of every 11 highway fatalities came as the result of texting, cellphoning or some other form of distracted driving. And the government report indicates that a large share of last year’s fatalities might have been avoided had more motorists buckled up.
In all, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that 32,885 Americans died on the road in 2010, the fewest since 1949, when Harry Truman was in the White House and the Interstate highway program hadn’t even been conceived yet.
But Americans today drive substantially more than they did six decades ago – in fact, they clocked an estimated 46 billion miles more last year than in 2009, a 1.9% increase. So, adjusted to reflect such increases, the 2010 numbers work out to just 1.1 fatalities for every 100 million miles driven, down from 1.15 deaths in 2009.
“While we have more work to do to continue to protect American motorists, these numbers show we’re making historic progress when it comes to improving safety on our nation’s roadways,” said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
At its peak, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the death rate averaged close to 7 per 100 million miles. Meanwhile, overall fatalities approached 60,000 annually in the early 1970s. The rate began to fall following enactment of the first federal automotive safety laws – though there was a brief spike in the early 1980s as Americans downsized their vehicles due to rising fuel prices.
The overall number of highway deaths – as well as the fatality rate – remained surprisingly steady for much of the first decade of the new Millennium, but began tumbling over the last few years.
Experts point to a variety of factors, including better road design, improved vehicle engineering, the use of advanced safety systems, such as electronic stability control, and a crackdown on drunk driving – which was long responsible for an estimated 50% of highway deaths.
The newest report from the NHTSA reveals that fatalities involving motorists who were legally over the drinking limit dropped by 4.9% in 2010.
While drunk driving may be on the wane, there’s another serious issue responsible for a significant number of highway fatalities, the fed data warns. A total of 3,092 people were killed in what NHTSA describes as “distraction-affected” crashes in 2010 – about one in every 11 motor vehicle fatalities. The safety agency also noted that a survey of motorists shows that solving the distraction problem could be tough – despite new laws that restrict or even bar such activities as texting and using handheld phones while behind the wheel.
The federal report also suggests that one of the best ways to further reduce traffic fatalities will be to continue pressing for better usage of seatbelts.
“Among fatally injured vehicle occupants, more than half (51%) of those killed in 2010 were unrestrained,” noted the NHTSA report.