Although cars and trucks now come with more safety features than ever, more people are dying on our nation’s roadways. In the first six months of 2016, there have been almost 18,000 deaths. That number represents a 10.4 percent increase over the same time period in 2015. Sadly, traffic fatalities also increased from 2014 to 2015.
While the rise in traffic accidents and fatalities is partly due to the fact that more people are now driving more often, this only accounts for about half of the increase. According to Mark Rosekind, the administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 94 percent of crashes are related to human choice or error.
Deborah Hersman, former chairman for National Transportation Safety Board and the current president and CEO of the National Safety Council broke the numbers down, and about 100 people are killed on our roads every day. That is “the equivalent of two regional jets crashing, every day. That would be 14 plane crashes a week.”
Again, the increase in fatalities comes at a time when newer technologies are making cars safer. Moreover, the National Safety Council and the federal government are working on new safety features, such as automatic emergency braking, which will become standard on most vehicles by 2022. Highway and traffic engineers are also working on safer road designs.
These advances will help, but the biggest challenge is changing human behavior.
If you or a loved one has been injured or killed by a distracted or drunk driver, contact an attorney at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or toll free at 713-222-7211.
http://tpr.org/post/tech-human-errors-drive-growing-death-toll-auto-crashes#stream/0