Road crashes are the leading killer of Americans under the age of 35, yet there seems to be collective indifference to the need to make highways safer. It is partly due to people's common reaction to crashes as something that happens to someone else, and partly due to politicians' unwillingness to enact effect but unpopular measures to make roads safer. Federal funding for traffic safety is small ($58 million for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) compared to other public health problems ($289 million for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research). Federal dollars have tripled since the early 90s for the National Institutes of Health, but NHTSA's budget has only gone up 75% in the same period. The National Academy of Sciences shows a major gap between what we know about effective measures and whether they are implemented, because of funding. Education alone does not make people change dangerous behavior. It can help them understand why training and laws are needed, but by itself it is a waste of scarce resources. Helmet laws, mandatory primary seatbelt laws and red light cameras are some of the measures politicians avoid enacting but that could save lives. The U.S. lags behind other countries, including Canada, which it surpassed in motor vehicle death rates in 1990. Other countries can provide good examples of stricter policies and tighter enforcement cutting road deaths significantly. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting