OVER 6,000,000 CRASHES REPORTED TO POLICE LAST YEAR(2007)---OVER 40,000 DEATHS---HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS INJURED--MANY SEVERELY---ECONOMIC COST ABOUT $ 260 BILLION.
There are reports stating that car accident deaths are down about 10% for the first 8 months of 2008. This may imply that a positive change in driving habits may be responsible--this is not so. Americans drove about 10 billion fewer miles due to both the economy & gas prices;also, alcohol consumption is down about 12%--cell phone use is growing as is speeding & disregard for traffic signs & a lack of common courtesy. What we see is a temporary blip in a growing national problem.
National Safety Council has called for ban on all cell phone use while driving. They quote Harvard study stating that cell phone use while driving causes 6% of crashes (636,000): 330,000 injuries--2,600 deaths & $43 billion in damages. Because this practice is so common, these figures will continue to rise unless action is taken. They also say that hands free use is of little value according to U of Utah researchers. Link at:
New data compiled by the NHTSA, the traffic arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation were collected primarily through police reports in 2007, death certificates and the number of fatalities were registered by the Not-in-Traffic Surveillance system, a virtual data collector of details regarding nontraffic crashes nationwide.
Researchers estimated an annual total of 1,747 fatalities and 841,000 injuries due to nontraffic crashes and noncrash incidents. Nontraffic crashes include back-over crashes and single-vehicle crashes that did not occur on a national highway.