Traffic Accident Facts
- Motor vehicle collisions shorten American’s life expectancy by 2/3 years. Only tobacco is more significant as a cause of premature death and disability.1
- Americans lose more people relative to population than in any other industrial nation. United States loses 29.1 per 100,000 population; whereas England loses 11.6; Canada, 19.7; and The Netherlands, 13.1.2
- Worldwide, motor vehicles collision rank 9 for total "health burden" but are expected to rank number 3 by year 2020.3
- Pedestrian deaths have been declining steadily, but this decline is due to less walking and better emergency medical service rather than safer walking conditions.4
- People killed while walking fall into three broad categories: children, active elderly, and intoxicated pedestrians. Children tend to be hit mid-block on residential streets. Active elderly tend to be hit in crosswalks. Intoxicated pedestrians tend to be hit near places they frequent.
- Motorists who hit pedestrians have a history of citations.5’6
- Low-income areas have two to three times the risk of pedestrian injuries.7
- Pedestrian injuries are 20 to 30 times more deadly than other injuries.8
1 Cohen, BL. Catalog of Risks Extended and Updated. Health Physics, 1991; 61:
2 Fingerhut LA, Cox CS, Warner M, et al. International comparative analysis of injury mortality: Findings
from the ICE on injury statistics; no. 303. Hyattsville, Maryland: National Center for Health Statistics. 1998.
3 Murray CJL and Lopez AD, Evidence-based health policy—Lessons from the Global Burden of Disease Study. Science 1996;274:740.
4 DiGuiseppi C, Roberts I, Li L, Influence of changing travel patterns on child death rates from injury:
trend analysis. BMJ 1997;314:710-3.
5 Baker SP et al. Fatal Pedestrian Collisions; Driver Negligence. Am J Public Health, I 974;64:3 18-325. 6 Lightstone AS et al. Relationship Between Driver’s Record and Automobile Versus Child Pedestrian Collisions. Injury Prevention, 1998;3:262-266.
7 Dinkin MS, Davidson LL, Kuhn L, OConner P, Barlow B. Low-income neighborhoods and the risk of severe pediatric injury: a small-area analysis in northern Manhattan. Am JPublic Health 1994;84:587-592. Zylke JW, Strategies proposed so cars won’t harm kids. JAMA 1995;273:1560-l.
8 Zylke JW, Strategies proposed so cars won't harm kids. JAMA 1995; 273:1560-1.