Tuesday, April 07, 2009
While every indicator about the economy continues to look dreary, one set of statistics is downright life-preserving, thanks in large part to the recession. Last year, the fewest motorists in almost 50 years died on the nation’s highway—37, 313—representing more than a 9% drop from 2007, when 41,059 died. The 2008 figure was the lowest since 1961, when there were 36,285 fatalities, not to mention considerably fewer motorists in the country, making the drop all the more startling. Another key statistic, known as the fatality rate (the number of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled), registered a 1.28 in 2008, the lowest ever recorded. The rate for 2007 was 1.36.
While transportation experts credited the poor economy for fewer highway deaths, they also attributed the good news to record-high seat-belt use, tighter enforcement of drunken driving laws and efforts by advocacy groups to encourage safer driving habits.
New England experienced the largest drop in highway-related deaths (14%), followed by decreases of 10% or more in many states along the Atlantic seaboard, parts of the Upper Midwest and the West Coast, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The correlation between bad economic times and fewer highway fatalities has also occurred in the past, such as during the oil embargo of the early 1970s and the 1981-1982 recession.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Bad Economy Holds Highway Deaths to 1960s Levels (by Ken Thomas, Associated Press)
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