The U.S. Department of Transportation says the death toll on the nation's highways dropped in 2008 to 37,261, a
9.7 decrease from the 2007 total and the lowest level since 1961. The trend continued
in the first quarter of 2009; the 7,689 traffic related fatalities from
January through March represent a 9 percent decline from the same
period a year ago.
Insurance expert Adrian Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, says that in 1970 around 55,000 people were dying on U.S. roadways every year, so recent trends are definitely going in the right direction. Speaking at a conference held by the Insurance Council of Texas in July 2009, Lund said much of the recent decrease in traffic fatalities has a lot to do with the economic downturn.
"When the economy tanks one of the few good things about it is
people are driving less, they are driving more safely and we don't kill
as many people on the roads. That's unfortunately why we're down to
37,000 deaths in 2008," Lund said. Vehicle miles traveled during the
first three months of 2009 declined by about 11.7 billion miles,
according to preliminary data collected by the Federal Highway
Administration. Lund suggested that those numbers will start to creep
back up as the economy recovers.
Excerpted from InsuranceJournal.com.
