Traffic Fatalities Up 5% in 2012

For the first time in eight years, the number of traffic fatalities on US roads has increased. According to preliminary estimates from the National Safety Council, nearly 36,200 people were killed in motor vehicle accidents in 2012, a 5% increase over the previous year. Also increased by a margin of 5% was the number of accident injuries requiring medical attention, 3.9 million, and the total national cost of these accidents, including motor vehicle deaths, injuries, and property damages, a total of $276.6 billion.

"The NSC is greatly concerned with the upswing in traffic fatalities on our nation's roads," says Janet Froetscher, president and CEO of the NSC, which was founded earlier this year and chartered by Congress. "Although we have improved safety features in vehicles today, we also have new challenges, especially as it relates to teen and distracted driving, that need to be addressed on a national scale. We must work together now to reverse this latest trend to prevent needless tragedy."

Alongside the battle against distracted, tired, and impaired driving, warmer weather and an increase in miles driven during the year are considered to be two of the most significant influences on the rising total, as US motorists covered 14.2 billion more miles throughout 2012. With warmer temperatures, more motorists are likely to take to the road; out of this expansion of time behind the wheel, it is only logical that an increase in accidents and accident fatalities would follow.

The NSC reached their year-end estimate total using data gathered by traffic authorities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, supplemented by death certificate data from the National Center for Health Statistics. To be counted as a traffic fatality, victims needed to have lost their lives as a result of an accident within a year of the crash taking place, occurring on either public roadways or private property.

The year’s final total comes as only a confirmation of previous published data, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has already released its official totals for the first three quarters of the year, revealing a substantial 7.1% increase over the same period in 2011, the largest such increase over a set time period since the agency first began collecting crash data in 1975. From January through September, a total of 25,580 deaths were recorded, 1,700 more than the year before. In the first three months alone, fatalities were up 13%.

Nevertheless, overall traffic fatalities are still down more than 25% from a decade ago, demonstrating significant safety improvements throughout the automotive industry. A number of advancements like accident avoidance technologies, standardized electronic stability control systems, and generally improved build quality have made today’s vehicles noticeably safer, though accident totals suggest that more work is needed. Despite an increase in miles driven and warmer weather, auto makers will need to work hard throughout the year to ensure that this increase in deaths does not become a continuing trend.