with early projections showing almost a 10% drop in highway traffic deaths in the first 10 months of the year, compared with 2007 figures.
DOT Secretary Mary Peters says the agency’s safety focus “has led to one of the safest periods” in American transportation history, and that the new fatality data marks the first time DOT can project fatality figures prior to the end of the calendar year. Using new electronic data gathering techniques, the agency is working to make projections in near real time to “give safety professionals the data they need to keep motorists safe,” she said.
Early estimates show that 31,000 people died on the nation’s roads from January through October, compared to 34,500 in 2007 during that same 10-month timeframe. In addition, the fatality rate per 100 million vehicles miles traveled for the first nine months of 2008 is 1.28, compared to 1.37 for 2007. Recent U.S. studies show a strong correlation between the sharp increase in motor fuel prices through much of 2008 and the sharp decrease in fatalities over the same period.
The final counts for 2008 will be available in the summer of 2009.
