keller@uicsl.UUCP (07/04/83)
#N:uicsl:2800006:000:2244 uicsl!keller Jun 27 13:52:00 1983 I know some of you are safety conscious so I thought I'd share a few statistics I found. I got these stats from BuisnessWeek May 23, 1983 pp. 200-204. Chances of having a fatal accident: 1 in 60 (This stat has been declining and is now at an all time low, but it is not due to safer cars. It may be related to less driving by kids.) Dangerous kids: 16-24 yr olds are 18% of US population and are involved in > 1/3 of all driving deaths The danger varies greatly from state to state. (--in a very mysterious way. BW gives a map showing such strange things as: S. Dakota is one of the safest states, but its neighbor Wyoming is one of the least safe. All the safest states are in the N.E. quadrant of the US + Hawaii.) NHTSA estimates fatalities would drop 50% if everyone used seat belts. Only one person in 8 uses them. (I do luckily or I probably would have died in my first accident! I ran an MGB into an embankment late one rainy night. I wasn't under the influence; just liked to drive fast on the country roads and forgot about the 90 degree turn the road made after a hill. Significantly I was 20yrs old at the time and paid a fortune for insurance.) Use belts around town. 80% of auto accidents and serious injuries occur at speeds below 40 mph. Forget about bracing for a crash. Holding yourself down in a 10 mph crash is like catching a 200-lb weight dropped from 10ft. Ugh! Alcohol figures into at least half of driving fatalities. (midnite Friday to 4am Sat. is most dangerous, Sun. morn. is safest.) Nearly 2/3 of traffic fatalities occur at night. Of course big cars are safer than little ones, but did you know that small car drivers are about 2.5 times as likely to wear their their seat belts? NHTSA calls this "an enhanced sense of vulnerability." A GM study found 87% of accidents due to driver error. 56% of all driving is in urban areas, but 55% of deaths occur in rural areas. Freeways are the safest place to be. 19% of all driving (~ 16 billion miles/yr. 16 bmi/20mpg = 800 million gallons.) is on interstaes, but only 9% of deaths occur there. You might say, as NHSTA does, that "5400 lives are saved per yr by the interstates being safer than other roads."