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National traffic fatality rate drops to lowest level in 50 years

Federal Highway Administration
The projected national fatality data for 2009 places the highway death count at 33,963, a drop of 8.9 percent as compared to the 37,261 deaths reported in 2008. This is incredible news and an incredible accomplishment. Although these are preliminary numbers, the story is clear….we are seeing an unprecedented drop in fatalities.

These are the lowest numbers of fatalities in a half century of automobile travel. It is important to realize that you are not only living in historical times for highway safety, but even more so, you are helping write that history. As we all know, it has been a collective effort to get this far and many share credit for this chane … just as it will take many to continue to move us towards zero deaths.

Still, almost 34,000 Americans die on our nations’ highways, and millions of men women and children are seriously injured. This tragedy affects not only their families and friends in communities across the United States, but poses a tremendous burden on our health care system and our economy. But there is progress being made.

As an example, the $26.6 billion in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds that were directed at improving the nation’s roads provided an opportunity to not only provide Americans with jobs, but to also save lives.

In the past year, the State DOTs have initiated 880 ARRA projects specifically aimed at improving safety and traffic management on the nation’s highways representing 7.2 percent of total FHWA ARRA projects and 5 percent of total funding. Many of these projects used low-cost technologies that have been proven to save lives and reduce the severity of crashes. However, this $1.27 billion investment of ARRA funds in safety projects is only the tip of the iceberg.

All 12,200-plus highway projects built with ARRA funds have been designed according to the latest safety standards with many including wider shoulders, new and more effective guardrails, and bike and pedestrian facilities.