FW: DOT Announces Record Low Highway Fatality Rate in 2004

["Alonzi, Al" <Al.Alonzi@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Title: DOT Announces Record Low Highway Fatality Rate in 2004

 

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DOT 106-05 
Monday, August 01, 2005
Contact: Rae Tyson
Tel.: (202) 
366-9550

DOT Announces Record Low Highway Fatality Rate in 
2004

The fatality rate on the nation’s highways in 2004 was the 
lowest since record-keeping began 30 years ago, the U.S. Department of 
Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 
announced today. The number of alcohol-related fatalities also dropped for the 
second straight year.

All told, 42,636 people died on the nation’s 
highways in 2004, down from 42,884 in 2003. The fatality rate per 100 million 
vehicle miles traveled (VMT) was 1.46 in 2004, down from 1.48 in 2003. The 
fatality rate has been steadily improving since 1966 when 50,894 people died and 
the rate was 5.5.

“Drivers are safer today on our nation’s highways than 
they have ever been, in part because of the safer cars, higher safety belt use 
and stronger safety laws that this Department has helped champion,” said 
Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta. “But as long as the number of 
highway deaths remains as high as it is, we will keep advocating for the kind of 
vehicles, roads and driving habits that make people safer in their cars and 
trucks.” 

Since 2001, the number of states with primary safety belt laws 
has increased to 22, along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, 
leading to an 80 percent safety belt use level, the highest ever. In addition, 
all states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, now have 0.08 blood 
alcohol laws for drivers. Minnesota’s 0.08 law took effect today, August 1. 

In 2004, VMT increased to 2.92 trillion, up from 2.89 trillion in 2003, 
according to the DOT’s Federal Highway Administration. 

“The progress 
we’ve made reflects the Bush Administration’s strong commitment to improved 
safety. And credit must also go to those states where safety also is a high 
priority,” said NHTSA Administrator Jeffrey Runge, MD. He announced the new 
fatality numbers in Buffalo, where he’s a keynote speaker at the 2005 Traffic 
Records Forum. 

NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) also 
shows that, between 2003 and 2004:

• Motorcycle fatalities increased from 
3,714 to 4,008, an 8 percent rise.

• Alcohol-related fatalities dropped 
from 17,105 to 16,694, a 2.4 percent decline.

• Rollover deaths among 
passenger vehicle occupants increased 1.1 percent from 10,442 to 
10,553.

• Total fatalities in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) increased 5.6 
percent, from 4,483 to 4735, while fatalities in passenger cars, pickup trucks 
and vans decreased a total of 834.

• Twenty-seven states, the District of 
Columbia, and Puerto Rico had decreases in the total number of fatalities. The 
highest percentage decreases were in the District of Columbia (-36 percent), 
Rhode Island (-20 percent) and Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska (–13 percent). 
The highest percentage increases were in Vermont (+42 percent), New Hampshire 
(+35 percent), New Mexico (+19 percent), and Alabama and Oklahoma (+15 
percent).

• Passenger vehicle occupant fatalities dropped to 31,693 – the 
lowest since 1992. Declining fatalities in passenger cars are consistent with 
more crashworthy vehicles in the fleet and increases in safety belt 
use.

• Pedestrian deaths declined 2.8 percent from 4,774 in 2003 to 
4,641.

• Fatalities from large truck crashes increased slightly from 
5,036 to 5,190.

• In 2004, 55 percent (down from 56 percent in 2003) of 
those killed in passenger vehicles were not wearing safety belts. This 
underscores the value of the need for states to adopt primary safety belt 
laws.

NHTSA earlier estimated that highway crashes cost society $230.6 
billion a year, about $820 per person.

NHTSA annually collects crash 
statistics from the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to 
produce annual reports on traffic fatality trends. This early report on results 
from the 2004 Annual Assessment is available on the NHTSA web site at: 
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/NCSA/RNotes/2005/809897.pdf

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