Safer Driving Means Fewer Fatalities in Car and Truck Accidents
While certain driving behavior like talking on cell phones and texting is dangerous and getting more so, there is some good news about car safety. Highway deaths are declining. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the number of highway fatalities dropped from 43,443 in 2005 to 37,261 in 2008. The number continued to fall during 2009. As an attorney who handles car and truck accident cases every day, I’ve been wondering why.
Apparently, there is no clear answer to this question. However, there are several likely reasons for the drop in fatalities: improved automotive safety technology, better highway design, increased seatbelt use, and the crack down on drunk driving and speeding. In addition, the bad economy has kept some drivers off the road as they try to reduce fuel costs.
With respect to automotive technology, safety factors that may help reduce highway fatalities include an increase in the number of cars furnished with side airbags, as well as head and torso protecting airbags. Cars and SUVs are also safer because most are now sold with electronic stability control systems that use a vehicle’s braking system to avert skidding.
Over the years, highway design engineers have made roads safer through the construction of jersey walls and other barriers to divide highways, especially in sections that pass through urban areas. These barricades prevent out-of-control vehicles from crossing medians into oncoming travel lanes where they may strike cars and trucks head-on. When two or more vehicles traveling at highway speeds crash head-on, fatalities are likely. During the past decade, state departments of transportation have also added rumble strips to highway shoulders. When tires cross these strips, the resulting noise warns sleepy and distracted drivers they are about to drift off the roadway.
More motorists are fastening their seatbelts, 84% at last count. If you are belted, it is very unlikely you will be ejected from your vehicle during an accident. To the contrary, if you are unbelted, it is more likely you will be. In its articles about car accident fatalities, my Richmond, Virginia newspaper almost always mentions whether or not the driver or passenger who died was wearing a seatbelt. Almost invariably, I read that the person who died was unbelted.
Over the last decade, The Virginia General Assembly has enacted tougher drunk driving laws. The threat of jail time that may be imposed under these new laws has probably served as a deterrent to some who used to drink and drive. Finally, there are the days I drive along the interstate and see car after car pulled over by the State Police, sometimes three or four of them within a ten mile stretch. These periodic police operations, designed to curb speeding, serve as a reminder to the driving public that speeding is dangerous and speeders will be prosecuted.
Labels: Motor Vehicle Accidents