Federal regulators concerned with U.S. traffic fatality numbers
Dismal.
That is the clear and unadorned assessment of U.S. safety regulators who have culled and closely examined 2015 data relating to motor vehicle accidents across the country that resulted in fatalities.
And here’s what is especially troubling to transportation and highway safety officials: Fatal accident-related numbers are up for virtually every type of crash.
Here’s one obvious reason for the dire concerns being expressed by federal officials: Traffic fatalities spiked by nearly 8 percent last year from 2014. In starkly numerical terms, that equates to more than 2,500 deaths in 2015 over the immediately preceding year. In the aggregate, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states that there were about 35,200 fatal roadway outcomes nationally last year.
When compared with relevant data from 2014, the numbers from last year are discouraging across the board, note safety experts. Fatalities involving trucks spiked by 4 percent. Federal agency data found “significant increases” in the number of motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians who died on state and national roads last year. And traffic deaths rose in every geographical region examined across the country, except for one.
That includes California, where roadway deaths exceeded those from 2014 by about 6 percent.
What factors might be centrally contributing to such a result?
Commentators point foremost to an improved economy and lowered gas prices, which have put more motorists back on the road. Coupled with an assessment that vehicle crashes are linked with human error more than 90 percent of the time, that increased traffic volume spells a recipe for dire outcomes in more instances.
The NHTSA will issue a fully comprehensive report on the subject matter later in the year.
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