(Click on the image for the National Safety Council's "The State of Safety")
- After dropping steadily for decades, we are in the midst of the deadliest spike in roadway fatalities in 50 years.
- An estimated 40,200 people died on our nation’s roads in 2016, making motor vehicle crashes the second leading cause of unintentional death in the United States.
- These deaths are primarily driven by distraction, speed and alcohol, and are entirely preventable.
- Making the nation’s roadways safer calls for a variety of approaches that recognize how the vehicle, the driver, passengers and the roadway itself all play a role in safety.
- Traffic laws, when visibly enforced, are very effective at promoting safe practices, even though driver behaviors overall are difficult to change.
- A comprehensive road safety approach that integrates laws, enforcement and driver education can shift culture over time so safety becomes the norm, and safe behaviors become customary.