Drivetime Mahatma

Fatalities way down since 1921

Sir: I read your column of June 13 on the 1950s version of Little Rock's traffic and safety manual, and note your observation on the old photos of wrecked cars in which many did not survive. Then I turn to page 3B and note "8 reported killed on Arkansas roads." I wonder what the weekly slaughter amounted to back in the day? I'm from California, population 38.8 million, and am shocked by the traffic death a day in the Natural State, population 2.9 million. How compares the "then" and "now?" -- Mike

Dear Mike: Reams of data are available on this topic. They all point in one direction -- downward. The rate at which people are killed in traffic accidents is much lower today than it was in 1921, based on historical data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Readers who don't like buckets of numbers should now retreat to the comics pages. You have been warned.

One of the most important bits of data is VMT, vehicle miles traveled, which is expressed in units of 100 million.

In 1921, Americans drove 55,027,000 miles, and 13,027 people were killed in traffic accidents, for a VMT rate of 24.985. So for every 100 million miles traveled, safety administration data show 24.985 Americans were killed. This is more commonly known as the fatality rate.

In 1955, the approximate year of publication of the Little Rock traffic book, 36,688 fatalities were recorded, and the fatality rate was 6.058.

In 1969, when men landed on the moon, 53,543 fatalities meant a fatality rate of 5.043.

In 1989, 45,582 fatalities were recorded for a fatality rate of 2.174.

A tipping point occurred in 1991, when the fatality rate went under, and stayed under, the 2.0 mark at 1.911. That year, 41,508 Americans were killed in traffic accidents.

In 2013, 32,719 Americans were killed in traffic accidents, and the fatality rate was 1.09.

A smaller snapshot of data from the Arkansas State Police, from 2008 to 2012, shows a similar trend. Fatalities in our state over those years were 600, 596, 572, 551 and 552. The fatality rate went from 1.8 in 2008 to 1.7 in 2012.

Now let's compare Arkansas and California, using a chart from the Statistical Abstract of the United States, numbers from 1990 and 2009.

Arkansas had 604 traffic fatalities in 1990; California had 5,192. Arkansas had 585 traffic fatalities in 2009; California had 3,081. The fatality rate in Arkansas in 1990 was 2.9; in California, 2.0. The fatality rate in Arkansas in 2009 was 1.8; in California, 1.0. The national average in 1990 was 2.1, and in 2009, the national average was 1.1.

Now to your observation on the newspaper. We make an effort to write something about every fatality in the state. So, yes, there is roughly a fatality reported every day.

Vanity plate seen on a light purple Chevrolet Spark: PPLEATR. Or purple people eater. A song. Honest.

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Metro on 07/04/2015

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