As Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety (Advocates) releases the twelfth annual Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws, the latest fatality and injury figures from the federal government indicate 32,719 people were killed and 2.3 million people were injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2013, a slight decrease from 2012. While it is encouraging that these figures are marginally lower than the prior year, there are still far too many people being needlessly killed and injured on our roads. This year’s Roadmap Report puts the spotlight on “Lethal Loopholes” in state highway safety laws - resulting in unprotected drivers and passengers and leading to preventable deaths, injuries and costs. By closing these lethal loopholes we can save more lives. For example, although seat belts save more than 10,000 people every year, some states require their use only for front seat passengers, leaving passengers in the back seat, frequently children and teens, unprotected. Additionally, in some states a driver must commit a separate offense before an officer can issue a citation for unbelted passengers . If loopholes like these were closed, and if all passenger vehicle occupants age five and over had worn seat belts, in 2012 alone more than 3,000 lives could have been saved. Motor vehicle crashes are the number one killer of American teens. Teen drivers are far more likely to be involved in fatal crashes because they lack driving experience and tend to take greater risks, but there is a proven solution. States with comprehensive graduated driver licensing (GDL) programs have had overall crash reductions among teen drivers of about 10 to 30 percent. Still, no state has enacted all of the optimal GDL provisions recommended by Advocates. Drinking and driving continues to be a national scourge on our highways. An average of one alcoholimpaired driving fatality occurred every 52 minutes in 2013. Yet, the majority of states and the District of Columbia do not require all convicted drunk driving offenders to install an ignition interlock device (IID) even though they are associated with an approximately 70 percent reduction in arrest rates for impaired driving. There were 11 times as many unhelmeted motorcyclist fatalities in states without all-rider helmet laws as in states with all-rider helmet laws in 2013. In spite of this, more states are considering rescinding than enacting this lifesaving law, and many states have serious gaps. In Delaware for example, motorcyclists over the age of 18 only have to carry a helmet with them, not wear it. Without strong laws, helmet use is low and deaths are high. Lastly, new this year is a section on speeding, a critical safety problem represented in 30 percent of crashes. While Advocates is not rating the states on this issue, we urge states and localities to utilize proven tools, such as automated enforcement, to combat this deadly problem. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting