But rarely do they acknowledge the undeniable truth: the best way to prevent these deaths is to design cities and residential communities to better encourage more walking and biking, and less driving. Fewer cars, not more, will help curb this carnage. Subscribe to get the best Verge-approved tech deals of the week. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
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Accessories Buying Guides How-tos Deals. Health Energy Environment. YouTube Instagram Adobe. Kickstarter Tumblr Art Club. Film TV Games. Fortnite Game of Thrones Books. Seatbelts were in use Generally, states with stronger seatbelt enforcement laws achieve higher rates of seatbelt use than states with weaker laws.
State seat belt usage rates for published by NHTSA can be found here; details on state seatbelt laws published by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety can be found here. View Archived Tables Motor vehicle crashes by time of year Traffic fatalities spike during different periods. Memorial Day and Labor Day are always 3. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA gauges distracted driving by collecting data on distraction-affected crashes, which focus on distractions that are most likely to result in crashes such as dialing a cellphone, texting or being distracted by another person or an outside event.
In , 3, people were killed in crashes involving distractions. There were 2, distraction-affected fatal crashes, accounting for 9 percent of all fatal crashes in the nation. Most states have addressed the issue of using cellphones for talking and texting. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, as of December , talking on a hand-held cellphone while driving is banned in 24 states and the District of Columbia.
Text messaging is banned for all drivers in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Laws for novice drivers are even more restrictive: the use of all cellphones by novice drivers is restricted in 37 states and the District of Columbia, and drivers age 21 and younger are banned from texting in Missouri.
Despite laws enacted in most U. In , 41 percent of drivers were distracted by their phones during daytime driving, according to data from Cambridge Mobile Telematics , a global phone telematics company. This figure is higher than official statistics. An earlier study found that texting bans were not shown to reduce crash rates, according to a Highway Loss Data Institute study of collision claims patterns in California, Louisiana, Minnesota and Washington before and after texting bans went into effect.
Collisions went up slightly in all the states, except Washington. A positive change was noted in a more recent study using data from hospital emergency departments in 16 states between and that found that states with texting bans had an average 4 percent reduction in emergency department visits after motor vehicle crashes, or about 1, visits per year.
Teen girls are twice as likely as teen boys to use cell phones and other electronic devices while driving, according to a March, study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. View Archived Tables Distraction was a factor in 9 percent of fatal crashes reported in Cellphone use was a factor in 13 percent of all fatal distraction-affected crashes, but in only 1.
Pedestrian fatalities In November , the U. Department of Transportation issued its Pedestrian Safety Action Plan in response to the growing number of pedestrian fatalities.
It showed that from to , total traffic fatalities grew 9 percent but pedestrian traffic fatalities rose 44 percent, from 4, to 6, One state where higher speed limits may have contributed to a rise in the estimated number of deaths is Texas. The NSC estimates traffic fatalities in Texas have jumped 7 percent from to , though the number of deaths fell slightly from to Separately, Hersman says drivers continue to focus on smartphones, in-car infotainment systems and other distractions when they should be focused on the road.
While the latest estimate on traffic deaths is a sobering reminder of the dangers on American roads, there is some encouraging news in the report. NHTSA estimated that car accidents killed 37, people in , up 5. The government counts only deaths on public roads, while the council includes parking lots, driveways and private roads.
Lawmakers, regulators and automakers say stubbornly high traffic deaths create a sense of urgency to develop self-driving vehicles, which are expected to dramatically improve road safety. But that's a long-term hope, perhaps not yielding significant public safety benefits for decades. In the short term, safety advocates hope for simple improvements, such as more collision warning systems and additional education of drivers about the dangers of cellphone use while behind the wheel.
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