Only cigarette smoking and heart disease kill more people than automobile accidents in America.
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In Philadelphia, the Daily News found that red-light running is the No. 1 cause of accidents.
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A review of city accident records suggest Philadelphia's driving culture is pure hell. Injuries from accidents caused by aggressive driving have climbed in each year since 1991.
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Car accidents are the No. 1 cause of death and injury among children.
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Alcohol was involved in 41% of all traffic fatalities in 1994, resulting in 17,000 deaths.
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Each alcohol-related death costs our nation an average of 37 years of life lost--in contrast to 16 years for cancer and 12 years for heart disease.
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There has been a steady increase in DWI rates and alcohol-related fatal crashes among women, especially younger women.
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DWI or DUI accounted for about 1.4 million arrests in 1994, about the same as arrests for larceny or theft, or arrests for drug abuse.
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In 1996, about 35% of college students report having driven after drinking alcoholic beverages.
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More than 50% of the people jailed for DWI are repeat offenders.
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Raising the minimum drinking age to 21 has been credited with saving 15,000 lives so far. Some States saw a decrease of up to 38% in young motorists deaths.
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States that enacted and enforced an ALR law (Administrative License Revocation) experienced a decline of up to 9% in drunk driving crashes.
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Research shows that parents tend to seriously underestimate their children's drinking.
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It is believed that police sobriety checkpoints are one of the most effective measures police can use to deter drunk driving. Other methods include:
supporting local chapters of MADD, SADD, RID
supporting judicial efforts to combat impaired driving
promoting DD or "Designated Driver" programs
getting involved in National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month activities every December
supporting zero-tolerance laws and other anti-DWI laws in your community.
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The cost of motor vehicle crashes and injuries in 1990 was $138 billion, representing the present value of lifetime economic costs for 45,000 fatalities, 5.4 million non-fatal injuries, and 28 million damaged vehicles. Components of this total cost include:
property damage at 33%
workplace and household productivity at 37%
medical and rehabilitation at 10%
legal and insurance at 20%
Per fatality cost:
Workplace productivity........................$510,000
Household productivity......................... 113,000
Medical & emergency........................... 5,900
Legal................................................. 80,000
Premature funeral................................ 3,400
Insurance............................................ 55,000
Property damage................................. 10,000
Total.................................................. $785,000
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Nearly 100,000 pedestrians are injured in motor vehicle accidents each year in the United States, with a majority of these accidents taking place in urban areas.
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"Highway crashes cost the Nation $150.5 billion a year. We estimate that about one-third of these crashes and about two-thirds of the resulting fatalities can be attributed to behavior associated with aggressive driving." NHTSA's Administrator Dr. Ricardo Martinez
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The risk of getting in a wreck quadruples when drivers are talking on the phone and have not trained themselves for this new skill.
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To reduce your chances of getting into a road rage fight, let pushy drivers have their way.
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Male drivers of all age groups are involved in more crashes than their female counterparts (Table X). Crash Involvement per 1,000 Licensed Drivers in by Age and Sex, 1988 - 90 -- Go See the Table
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Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for children and adults age 6 to 28, and the leading cause of long-term disability for all age groups. Last year, 41,000 died in car crashes in the United States. Another 3.5 million suffered injuries that ranged from sprained ankles to life-long paralysis. Go see Citizens Against Speeding & Aggressive Driving
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Britain's Automobile Association is examining the use of aroma therapy to reduce road rage through a device that heats pleasant-smelling oils and wafts them throughout the car to help keep the driver calm.
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The phrase "road rage" officially entered the English language in 1997 when it was first listed in the New Words edition of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary).
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Human action was the leading cause of accidents on British Columbia roads in 1995, accounting for 68 per cent of all crashes. Of the types of human action that led to crashes, driving without due care was No. 1. It accounted for 27 per cent of those accidents. Speeding, in contrast, caused 17 per cent and tailgating caused only 12 per cent.
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More than 2 million Americans died in car crashes during the first century of our car society (1896-1996).
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In North Carolina, 1 in 4 (25%) 16-year-olds is in a motor-vehicle crash during that first year of driving. For 17-year-olds the rate is 1 in 5 (20%). In nearly 40% of these crashes, someone is killed or injured (NCDOT, 1995). The rate of seat belt use for high school students in North Carolina is 10% lower than drivers in general (Marchett, 1993).
