Traffic deaths up significantly in first 6 months of 2015

[SeattleSun]

Hey we are having too much fun here at the MR so lets drive safely.

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Traffic deaths could surpass 40,000 this year for the first time since 2007.

The council estimated in a report this spring that a quarter of all crashes involve cellphone use.

In recent decades, deaths due to crashes involving drunken driving have dropped from about 50 percent of fatalities to about 30 percent, she said. Teen driving deaths are also down, and seat belt use is up.

Traffic deaths were up 14 percent nationally in the first six months of this year and injuries were up by a third, according to data gathered by the National Safety Council.

An improved economy and low gas prices have encouraged Americans to put a record number of miles on the road, said Deborah A.P. Hersman, president of the council. But, she said, that's not the whole explanation for the increase in deaths and injuries.

As a safety professional, it's not just disappointing but heartbreaking to see the numbers trending in the wrong direction.

If the trend continues, traffic deaths this year could exceed 40,000 for the first time since 2007, when there were nearly 44,000 deaths, Hersman said in an interview. The increases began in the last quarter of 2014 and have been recorded consistently through each month of this year, Hersman said.

The nation's driving steadily increased for 15 consecutive months through May, the Transportation Department said in July. Americans drove 1.26 trillion miles in the first five months of 2015, passing the previous record, 1.23 trillion, set in May 2007.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-traffic-deaths-up-20150817-story.html