The NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) announced recently that in 2009 the United States saw the lowest number of highways deaths – 33,808 – since 1950. This is even after a 0.2 percent increase in average vehicle miles traveled, over the 2008 numbers. In addition, 2009 also had the lowest rates of injuries and fatalities ever recorded at a mere 1.13 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, as opposed to 1.26 deaths in 2008. Even motorcycle fatalities declined last year, with 850 fewer than there were in 2008, thus ending an 11-year cycle of annual increases.
In addition to fewer deaths there were also fewer people injuries, with decline of 5.5 percent from last year’s numbers.
Specifically, there were 7.4 percent fewer alcohol related driving fatalities overall, and 33 states and Puerto Rico saw declines in that number.
According to NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, “Today’s numbers reflect the tangible benefits of record seat belt use and strong anti-drunk driving enforcement campaigns. But we are still losing more than 30,000 lives a year on our highways, and about a third of these involve drunk driving.”
Highlights of the latest Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and related NHTSA data include the following:
- 33,808 people died in motor vehicle traffic crashes in 2009, a 9.7 percent decline from 37,423 deaths reported in 2008, and the lowest number of deaths since 1950 (which had 33,186).
- An estimated 2.217 million people were injured in 2009, a 5.5 percent decline from 2.346 million in 2008.
- 30,797 fatal crashes occurred in 2009, down 9.9 percent from 34,172 in 2008. All crashes (fatal, injury and property damage only) were down by 5.3 percent in 2009 from a year ago.
- Forty-one states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico all had reductions in fatalities, led by Florida (with 422 fewer fatalities) and Texas (with 405 fewer fatalities).
It’s widely known that traffic accident statistics for a given area have an influence over insurance rates.