Abstract
Progress has been made over the past 25 years to reduce the highway traffic accident fatality rate from 2.76 fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled in 1982 to 1.41 in 2006. However, while this is a major improvement, there are still about 42,000 deaths every year in the United States due to highway traffic accidents. Almost 60 percent of these fatalities involve vehicles leaving their lane and crashing and, of these, more than half result from vehicles leaving the road and rolling over or hitting fixed objects, such as utility poles or trees. Recognizing the need to address this challenge, national safety leaders gathered together in 1996 to develop a strategic plan for saving lives and preventing injuries. (Author/publisher)