NHTSA: New Vehicle Designs Prevented Over One Million Injuries in 2008 Alone
Despite Americans driving more miles than ever before, traffic fatalities have actually gone down thanks to improved vehicle design, suggests a new report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). To better understand how the improvement in vehicle safety helped contribute to a declining number of road deaths, the NHTSA conducted a study documenting design improvements for cars between the 2000 and 2008 model years and has found that design improvements have saved over 2000 lives and prevented over one million occupant injuries in 2008 alone.
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To find out the effect of improved vehicle design on traffic fatalities, the NHTSA examined the crashworthiness and crash avoidance performance of vehicles from model years 2000 and 2008 based on the type of crashes that occurred and the miles driven. Though the NHTSA was studying how technologies have improved automotive safety between model year 2000 and 2008, it wasn't seeking to pinpoint any specific technology that may have caused automotive deaths to trend downward.
The NHTSA's results also show that the likelihood of crashing in 100,000 miles of driving has decreased from 30 percent in a model year 2000 car, to 25 percent in a 2008 model year car. The likelihood of escaping a crash uninjured has also improved from 79 to 82 percent. Technology improvements between model year 2000 and 2008 have prevented 700,000 accidents, the NHTSA reports.
Of the 9 million vehicles involved in accidents, 200,000 of them were considered preventable by technologies regularly implemented by 2008. Of the 12 million occupants in those accidents, 600 lives could have been saved, and 300,000 injuries could have been prevented or mitigated.
"Between better safety practices developed at the Department of Transportation and improved designs by automakers, we are making real progress protecting drivers and passengers nationwide," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "We celebrate the historic decline in deaths and injuries on our roads as we remain laser-focused on continuing to improve safety."
Source: NHTSA
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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