Us now only no. 9 in traffic safety
Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2005 7:51 am
Thanks to www.nytimes.com for this article...
Once World Leader in Traffic Safety, U.S. Drops to No. 9
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: November 27, 2003
he United States, long the safest place in the world to drive and still much better than average among industrialized nations, is being surpassed by other countries.
Even though the nation has steadily lowered its traffic death rates, its ranking has fallen from first to ninth over the last 30 years, according to a review of global fatality rates adjusted for distances traveled. If the United States had kept pace with Australia and Canada, about 2,000 fewer Americans would die because of traffic accidents every year; if it had the same fatality rate as England, it would save 8,500 lives a year.
Many safety experts cite several reasons the United States has fallen in the rankings, despite having vehicles equipped with safety technology that is at least as advanced as, if not more than, any other nation. They include lower seat-belt use than other nations; a rise in speeding and drunken driving; a big increase in deaths among motorcyclists, many of whom do not wear helmets; and the proliferation of large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, which are more dangerous to occupants of other vehicles in accidents and roll over more frequently.
"Our fatality rates are lowering, but not to the degree they have lowered in other regions of the world," said William T. Hollowell, director of the Office of Applied Vehicle Safety Research at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Traffic deaths and injuries are growing as a global health issue. The World Health Organization, preparing a report on the issue, says traffic accidents will become the world's third-leading cause of death and disability by 2020, up from ninth today — a toll particularly costly because victims are so often young adults.
Indeed, automobile accidents will be the main subject of World Health Day next April, supplanting diseases like H.I.V./AIDS and malaria.
"It's going to be a bigger World Health Day than usual because of the magnitude of the issue," said Dr. Etienne Krug, director of the World Health Organization's department for injuries and violence prevention.
"Because there's very little emphasis on it, and emphasis on other health problems, we don't expect to make progress on traffic safety, which is why the ranking is expected to get worse," Mr. Krug said. He was mainly referring to the developing world, where preventing traffic injuries lags behind fighting disease.
Industrialized nations like the United States are well ahead of developing nations like China, where death rates are not only far higher but also rising.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta has laid out an ambitious target of reducing the nation's traffic death rate to 1 death per 100 million miles traveled from 1.5 deaths by 2008. That would translate into roughly 12,000 fewer deaths per year, given projections for increased road use. Last year in the United States, 42,815 people died in traffic accidents, the most since 1990.
"Here we are losing 43,000 people," Mr. Mineta said. "If we had that many people die in aviation accidents, we wouldn't have an airplane flying. People wouldn't put up with it. They ought not to put up with 43,000 uncles, aunts, mothers, dads, brothers and friends whose lives are snuffed out by traffic accidents."
Getting to his target would require a radically faster pace of improvement. As of last year, the death rate in the United States had fallen to 1.51 deaths per 100 million miles traveled from 1.58 in 1998.
Since 1970, the United States traffic death rate has fallen from nearly 4.8 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. By 2000, the rate in Britain had fallen to 1.2 deaths per 100 million miles from 6.1 in 1970. The new figure is the lowest traffic death rate compiled by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which collects a variety of statistics from industrialized countries.
Australia's death rate has fallen from 7.13 in 1971 — the country did not estimate distances traveled the previous year — to 1.45 in 2001. Canada's death rate is slightly less.
Once World Leader in Traffic Safety, U.S. Drops to No. 9
By DANNY HAKIM
Published: November 27, 2003
he United States, long the safest place in the world to drive and still much better than average among industrialized nations, is being surpassed by other countries.
Even though the nation has steadily lowered its traffic death rates, its ranking has fallen from first to ninth over the last 30 years, according to a review of global fatality rates adjusted for distances traveled. If the United States had kept pace with Australia and Canada, about 2,000 fewer Americans would die because of traffic accidents every year; if it had the same fatality rate as England, it would save 8,500 lives a year.
Many safety experts cite several reasons the United States has fallen in the rankings, despite having vehicles equipped with safety technology that is at least as advanced as, if not more than, any other nation. They include lower seat-belt use than other nations; a rise in speeding and drunken driving; a big increase in deaths among motorcyclists, many of whom do not wear helmets; and the proliferation of large sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks, which are more dangerous to occupants of other vehicles in accidents and roll over more frequently.
"Our fatality rates are lowering, but not to the degree they have lowered in other regions of the world," said William T. Hollowell, director of the Office of Applied Vehicle Safety Research at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Traffic deaths and injuries are growing as a global health issue. The World Health Organization, preparing a report on the issue, says traffic accidents will become the world's third-leading cause of death and disability by 2020, up from ninth today — a toll particularly costly because victims are so often young adults.
Indeed, automobile accidents will be the main subject of World Health Day next April, supplanting diseases like H.I.V./AIDS and malaria.
"It's going to be a bigger World Health Day than usual because of the magnitude of the issue," said Dr. Etienne Krug, director of the World Health Organization's department for injuries and violence prevention.
"Because there's very little emphasis on it, and emphasis on other health problems, we don't expect to make progress on traffic safety, which is why the ranking is expected to get worse," Mr. Krug said. He was mainly referring to the developing world, where preventing traffic injuries lags behind fighting disease.
Industrialized nations like the United States are well ahead of developing nations like China, where death rates are not only far higher but also rising.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta has laid out an ambitious target of reducing the nation's traffic death rate to 1 death per 100 million miles traveled from 1.5 deaths by 2008. That would translate into roughly 12,000 fewer deaths per year, given projections for increased road use. Last year in the United States, 42,815 people died in traffic accidents, the most since 1990.
"Here we are losing 43,000 people," Mr. Mineta said. "If we had that many people die in aviation accidents, we wouldn't have an airplane flying. People wouldn't put up with it. They ought not to put up with 43,000 uncles, aunts, mothers, dads, brothers and friends whose lives are snuffed out by traffic accidents."
Getting to his target would require a radically faster pace of improvement. As of last year, the death rate in the United States had fallen to 1.51 deaths per 100 million miles traveled from 1.58 in 1998.
Since 1970, the United States traffic death rate has fallen from nearly 4.8 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. By 2000, the rate in Britain had fallen to 1.2 deaths per 100 million miles from 6.1 in 1970. The new figure is the lowest traffic death rate compiled by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, which collects a variety of statistics from industrialized countries.
Australia's death rate has fallen from 7.13 in 1971 — the country did not estimate distances traveled the previous year — to 1.45 in 2001. Canada's death rate is slightly less.