Traffic Safety Trends
By Anne Teigen and Douglas ShinkleMotor vehicle crashes remain the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 3 and 34. In 2012, highway deaths increased for the first time since 2005, from 32,479 in 2011 to 33,561 in 2012. While motor vehicle deaths in 2012 remain at the same level of fatalities as in 1950, Americans drove approximately the same about of miles in 2012 as they did in 2011, but with a 3.3 percent increase in fatalities. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia saw reductions in overall traffic fatalities (Table 1); in Mississippi, the number of fatalities decreased by 48, or 7.6 percent.
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Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety
After a few years of declining traffic deaths among bicyclists and pedestrians, the past few years have witnessed an increase in deaths for these groups. In 2012, pedestrian deaths rose from 4,457 deaths in 2011 to 4,743 deaths in 2012 (an increase of 6.4 percent), while bicyclist deaths increased from 682 to 726 (an increase of 6.5 percent). Injuries increased as well, by 10 percent for pedestrians, to around 76,000, and by 2.1 percent, to about 49,000 for bicyclists. Alcohol use continues to increase the risk of injury or death for pedestrians and cyclists; 37 percent of pedestrians killed in 2011 (the year with the most recent data), had blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) over the legal driving limit of .08, although that has declined from 44 percent of pedestrians in the early ‘80s.
Due largely to the success in decreasing vehicle deaths, the proportion of bicyclist and pedestrian traffic deaths has increased significantly; according to the newest data from the NHTSA passenger vehicle deaths now account for 65 percent of traffic deaths, down from 75 percent in 2003, while the proportion of pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities increased from 13 percent of deaths to 17 percent [22 percent for Maryland]. Common legislative strategies to enhance traffic safety for pedestrians and bicyclists include vulnerable user laws, complete streets, safe bicycling passing laws, and yield to pedestrian laws.
Vulnerable Users
A number of states [but not Maryland] considered legislation to assess stiffer penalties for traffic incidents that cause harm or death to vulnerable users, but Utah was the only one to enact such legislation in 2013. The Utah law defines a vulnerable user as a pedestrian; a person riding an animal; or a person operating a skateboard, wheelchair, bicycle, moped, motorcycle and other devices. A motorist may not distract, force, or attempt to distract or force a vulnerable user off the roadway with the intent of causing injury. Violating this law can result in fines of up to $750 and up to 90 days in jail; in the case of a violation resulting in injury to a vulnerable user, the penalty can be fines of up to $1,000 and up to six months in jail.
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<a href="http://www.ncsl.org/documents/transportation/2013Trafficsafetytrends.pdf">http://www.ncsl.org/documents/transportation/2013Trafficsafetytrends.pdf</a>;
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