Traffic deaths down due to gas prices?

Americans drive less, slower

Steve Hawley, Jan 12, 09.

Traffic fatality rates in the U.S. have dropped dramatically in 2008, perhaps because drivers were driving less and slowing down in order to conserve gas, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Federal Highway Administration data shows that between January and October, 31,110 people died on the country’s roads, down from 34,502 during the same period in 2007, a decrease of almost 10 percent. That translates into 1.28 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles driven, a record low.

While officials cite safer cars, better roads, advanced medical care, and crackdowns on speeders and drunk drivers, part of the drop may be due to record gas prices. Several officials speculate that in order to conserve gas (and their pocketbooks), consumers drove fewer miles and tended to drive at slower speeds, both of which decrease the likelihood of fatalities. The Post-Dispatch notes that traffic deaths decreased by 16.5 percent in Illinois and five percent in Missouri.

Officials in other states have also seen significant decreases. The Salem News reports that highway deaths in Oregon are at their lowest levels in nine years, while the Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star finds that traffic fatalities plummeted an astounding 21 percent in Virginia.

Traffic deaths dropped by 16 percent in Minnesota, according to the Star Tribune; 17 percent in Alabama, according to the Florence TimesDaily; 17 percent in New Jersey, according to The Press of Atlantic City; and 25 percent in Alaska, according to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. In addition, the Boston Globe reports that highway fatalities in Maine dropped to the lowest level in 50 years. In all of these instances, state officials reported a drop in the number of miles driven.

Figures for Texas are not yet available. During 2007, the Dallas Morning News reports that 3,422 drivers died on state roadways. If the national trend holds true in Texas, several hundred deaths may have been avoided.

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