Vehicle-related accident statistics for 2008 exhibit improvements in many areas of traffic safety: a chop in fatalities from 2007, an access in seat zone utilize, and a discount in alcohol-related fatalities. Although statistics pageant a reduce in overall fatalities, vehicle-related accidents in the USA go on to be a albatross to homeland. In 2002, the economic costs associated with vehicle-related accidents totaled $230.6 billion.
Speeding Statistics and Vehicle-Related Accidents
Vehicle-related accidents led the hang-up in 2008, accounting for the most deaths for every interval battery from 3 complete 34 senescence gray in 2006. According to the NHTSA, 37,261 general public were killed in vehicle-related accidents in 2008 in 5,811,000 vehicle-related accidents. Although such accidents were the relevant create of bereavement among individuals between 3 and 34 in 2006, 2008 proverb a shorten in traffic fatalities from 1998. In 1998, the traffic fatality proportion was at 1.58 per 100 million vehicle miles travelled (VMT) compared to 1.27 per 100 million VMT in 2008.
Vehicle-Related Accidents Involving Alcohol
NHTSA statistics exposition that of the drivers involved in fatal crashes in 2008, 41 percent with a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .08 and above were speeding. This shows a formidable degree of speeding among alcohol-impaired drivers when compared with speeding-related fatalities occurring in 15 percent of sober drivers. Yet though alcohol-related fatalities accounted for 32 percent of the complete fatalities for 2008, the 11,773 lives irretrievable represented a 6 percent divide in alcohol-related fatalities from the year before. NHTSA info indicates that 34 percent of drivers aged 21 to 24 in 2008 were inebriated. Drivers aged 25 to 34 accounted for an more 31 percent with 35- to 44-year-old drivers forging up 25 percent.
Leading Cause of Death
As one of the most prevalent causes of vehicle-related accidents, speeding-related crashes claimed the lives of 11,674 bourgeois in 2008, according to the Civic Highway Transportation Safety Government; the NHTSA estimates that speeding accounts for $40.4 billion in economic costs Everyone year. According to NHTSA statistics, of the blooming males between 15 to 20 caducity broken down who were involved in fatal accidents, 37 percent were speeding. Speeding contributed to 31 percent of fatal crashes in 2008. Statistics compiled by the NHTSA appearance that speeding among drivers involved in alcohol-related crashes is accepted. All the more as fatality rates declined, NHTSA statistics manifest that, on customary, 102 humanity died Everyone interval in Engine vehicle crashes in 2008, or one vehicle-related fatality every 14 minutes.
Seat Belts Save Lives
The NHTSA facts for 2008 indicates seat girdle usage increased to 82 percent nationwide. The NHTSA estimates that 255,115 lives carry been saved by seat belts since 1975, with 13,250 of those lives saved in 2008 alone. The NHTSA believes that the usage of seatbelts by all individuals over the age of 4 in passenger vehicles would have accounted for an additional 4,152 lives saved in 2008, bringing the total to 17,402.
Decreasing Vehicle-Related Accidents
Alcohol and speeding continue to be serious issues on U.S. highways. However, the decrease in traffic fatalities from 2007 to 2008 and the increase in the use of seat belts nationwide are good signs, possibly indicating a continued progression towards fewer vehicle-related accident fatalities in the coming years.
