Driving Safety: Auto fatalities dropping, but we can do better. "Yes, we can."

Megan Roth

Contributor

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Welcome to the month of February, which is driving safety month on InjuryBoard! Ooh – this is good for me – I could use a lesson or two (my track record isn’t the greatest…which is why I moved to a city where driving really isn’t even an option).

On a more serious note, however, this is, well, a serious subject. Thankfully, auto fatalities dropped by almost ten percent in 2008 (according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration); however, certain safety precautions could cut this number even more.

But what, exactly, does a ten percent decrease around the nation breakdown to? In Minnesota, the decrease was much greater (at approximately 16 percent) and feel from 510 in 2007 to 424 traffic-related deaths in 2008.

That’s 86 lives spared in Minnesota alone. Hmm…sounds like we’re doing something right. Actually, Minnesota’s Department of Safety says the government is doing several things right.

For starters, government officials attribute the lower fatality rates to a proactive safety approach and increased enforcement of safety regulations.

Another surprising contributor? High gas prices, which are thought to have contributed to decreased accident rates as drivers weren’t hitting the road quite as frequently as they had in years prior. In fact, as of March, driving (in general) was marked by its steepest decrease in history (it was the ‘sharpest yearly drop for any month’ in the DOT’s history, which dates back to 1942).

Makes sense, then. It’s the same sort of rational as the small town / big city crime rate association (my father claims New York is much more dangerous than any other city because it has more crime (he’s wrong, by the way); but even if he were correct, it’s all relative). There’s more crime in larger cities because there’s more people; thus, there will be more accidents when there are more drivers (and vice versa).

But, of course, we can’t look to increased gas prices as the sole contributor. Instead, we must give credit where credit is due: government officials have really started to crack down on seat belt violations, more states have implemented laws banning the use of cell phones and other handheld devices while driving (and Bluetooth sales have undoubtedly skyrocketed in result)), and laws against drinking and driving are, well, still around.

Unfortunately, the effectiveness of such laws isn’t quite what we hope for…yet. Brooklyn and California are among the states that have seen increases in drunk drivers tearing up the roads.

But I suppose we can’t have it all…for now, we’ll take the decrease in traffic-related fatalities with great pleasure and will continue to work towards lessening those numbers even more, which is feasible. There are numerous steps, measures and laws that not only have to be implemented but also enforced and we intend to give you insight into each over the next few weeks.

So buckle up and prepare yourself – this could be a bumpy ride…