2005 Department of Transportation Figures Show Highway Fatalities Increased

What ever happened to the war on traffic accidents? The United States of America as over 40,000 deaths on our highway each year and every year we work on new initiatives, innovations and plans to bring those death tolls down. In fact the number of deaths in the United States of America each year in automobiles is over ten times that much of the number of deaths of American soldiers in the entire war in Iraq. That's correct, every single year we still over 40,000 people on our highways.

In 2004 there were more than 42,630 deaths on our highways and you 2005 there were more than 43,200 and this is according to a preliminary report by the national highway traffic safety administration, and some believe that the actual total may actually be higher. Why is this happening? Well for one, the economy is doing better and more people have jobs and therefore more people commute each day in heavy traffic. Additionally more Americans own minivans and large SUVs, which way in excess of 5000 pounds medium that is a lot of kinetic energy to stop. And when there are collisions it more resembles crushing a paper cup with a brick.

Safety standards have been raised and the automakers have been doing better at building stronger and safer cars. More cars have airbags then ever before and this also helps reduce deaths, however with more cars on the road meaning more trips and more millions of miles driven even if the percentage goes down per mile driven the deaths continue to climb. Consider this in 2006.

Lance Winslow - EzineArticles Expert Author

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