April 2006 - Highway Fatalities on the Increase

According to a preliminary report from the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 43,200 died on the nation’s highways in 2005, up from 42,636 in 2004. Injuries dropped from 2.79 million in 2004 to 2.68 million in 2005, a decline of 4.1 percent. NHTSA’s report projects a fatality rate of 1.46 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled (VMT), up from the record low of 1.44 in 2004.

Fifty-five percent of passenger vehicle occupants who died in 2005 were unbelted, despite the fact that safety belt use is at a historic high of 82 percent nationwide. NHTSA estimates show that highway crashes cost society $230.6 billion a year, about $820 per person.

NHTSA also is projecting the following changes between 2004 and 2005:

• Fatalities from large truck crashes increased slightly, from 5,190 to 5,226.
• Overall, alcohol-related fatalities increased 1.7 percent, from 16,694 to 16,972.
• Passenger car fatalities dropped 1.8 percent, while light truck occupants killed increased by 4.3 percent.
• Pedestrian deaths increased slightly, from 4,641 to 4,674.
• Motorcycle fatalities increased 7.7.percent to 4,315.

"Every year this country experiences a national tragedy that is as preventable as it is devastating," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta. "We have the tools to prevent this tragedy – every car has a safety belt, every motorcycle rider should have a helmet and everyone should have enough sense to never drive while impaired".

NHTSA collects the crash statistics from 50 States and the District of Columbia to produce the annual report on traffic fatality trends. The final 2005 report, pending completion of data collection and quality control verification, will be available in late summer. Summaries of the preliminary report are available on the NHTSA Web site at www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/PPT/2006/810583.pdf.

COPYRIGHT ©2005, ISO Services Properties, Inc.

The information contained in this publication was obtained from sources believed to be reliable. ISO Services Properties, Inc., its companies and employees make no guarantee of results and assume no liability in connection with either the information herein contained or the safety suggestions herein made. Moreover, it cannot be assumed that every acceptable safety procedure is contained herein or that abnormal or unusual circumstances may not warrant or require further or additional procedure.