The effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression have not been all bad. Federal highway officials are pointing to the recession as one of the major reasons why the nation recorded the fewest traffic fatalities in 2009 in 55 years. Baby boomers were just beginning school in 1954, the last year the nation recorded fewer traffic deaths than the 33,963 who died in 2009.
The number of people who died in Kentucky traffic accidents last year mirror the national statistics. While final numbers have yet to be released, preliminary figures show that 792 people died in Kentucky traffic accidents in 2009. That’s 40 fewer than in 2008 and represents the fifth consecutive year that the number of traffic deaths in the state has declined. In fact, in 2005 — the deadliest year on Kentucky’s highways in the state’s history — 985 people were killed in Kentucky traffic accidents. Since then, the number of traffic deaths in the state have declined by nearly 200 a year.
There are a number of reasons for the decline. One is great improvements in our highway system. In 1956, Congress approved the bill creating the interstate highway system that has greatly increased the safety of intercity driving. There is no comparison between the quality of our highways in eastern Kentucky today than what it was just 20 and 30 years ago.
A big reason for the drop in deaths is increased seat belt usage, now up to 84 percent. Although seat belt use is lower than that in Kentucky, enactment of a law making failure to buckle up a primary offense plus greater awareness of the value of seat belts is steadily convincing more Kentuckians to buckle up.
The recent problems of Toyota notwithstanding, cars also are getting safer. There are more and better air bags along with antilock brakes and stability control devices. Tougher laws against drunken drivers plus aggressive enforcement of those laws have greatly reduced the number of accident in which alcohol is a factor.
Nationwide, traffic deaths have dropped steadily since 2005 when 43,510 died, the last of 15 consecutive years in which highway deaths increased annually. The 2009 figures were 9 percent lower than in 2008.
The recession certainly has played a part in the decline. Motorists drove less in 2007 and 2008. However, the number of deaths continued to drop in 2009, even though Americans drove 6.6 billion more miles last year than they did in 2008. As a result, the fatality rate — deaths per 100 million miles — fell to a record 1.15, down from 1.25 in 2008, also a record at the time.
Despite the improving numbers, the Governor’s Executive Committee on Highway Safety has launched Kentucky Toward Zero Deaths, a program designed to further reduce the state’s highway death toll. The program will focus on what it calls the four E’s of highway safety: engineering, education, enforcement and emergency response.
“I’m pleased that our highway fatalities have decreased for five consecutive years,” said Gov. Steve Beshear in launching the new program. “However, there is still work to be done. Even one fatality is too many.”
While we have no statistics to support it, our observation is that driver inattention is an increasing cause of accidents in Kentucky and elsewhere, and the reason for that inattention is that drivers are paying more attention to talking on their cell phones than they are in watching where they are going. That’s dangerous.
