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Comparisons
between US and:

vehicle rate

dist. rate

Background and more

information in 2004 book

Click for info on

Traffic Safety

Canada

Australia

This is the calculation in Table 15-5, page 388, of Traffic Safety showing that 177,593 additional Americans died because US failed to match British safety performance (see also summary in Table 15-7, p. 388)

US versus GB traffic fatalities per thousand registered vehicles (vehicle rate)

	USA				GB
year	traffic fatalities	vehicles (thous)	fatalities per thou vehicles	traffic fatalities	vehicles (thous)	fatalities per thou vehicles	percent change from 1979	A	B	C
1979	51,093	144,317	0.354	6,352	18,616	0.341	—	0.354	51,093	—
1980	51,091	146,845	0.348	6,010	19,199	0.313	-8.3	0.325	47,695	3,396
1981	49,301	149,330	0.330	5,846	19,347	0.302	-11.4	0.314	46,819	2,482
1982	43,945	151,148	0.291	5,934	19,762	0.300	-12.0	0.312	47,091	-3,146
1983	42,589	153,830	0.277	5,445	20,209	0.269	-21.0	0.280	43,004	-415
1984	44,257	158,900	0.279	5,599	20,765	0.270	-21.0	0.280	44,455	-198
1985	43,825	166,047	0.264	5,165	21,159	0.244	-28.5	0.253	42,056	1,769
1986	46,087	168,545	0.273	5,382	21,699	0.248	-27.3	0.257	43,375	2,712
1987	46,390	172,750	0.269	5,125	22,152	0.231	-32.2	0.240	41,469	4,921
1988	47,087	177,455	0.265	5,052	23,302	0.217	-36.5	0.225	39,919	7,168
1989	45,582	181,165	0.252	5,373	24,196	0.222	-34.9	0.230	41,741	3,841
1990	44,599	184,275	0.242	5,217	24,673	0.211	-38.0	0.219	40,428	4,171
1991	41,508	186,370	0.223	4,568	24,511	0.186	-45.4	0.193	36,038	5,470
1992	39,250	184,938	0.212	4,229	24,577	0.172	-49.6	0.179	33,018	6,232
1993	40,150	188,350	0.213	3,814	24,826	0.154	-55.0	0.159	30,023	10,127
1994	40,716	192,497	0.212	3,650	25,231	0.145	-57.6	0.150	28,894	11,822
1995	41,817	197,065	0.212	3,621	25,369	0.143	-58.2	0.148	29,185	12,632
1996	42,065	201,631	0.209	3,598	26,302	0.137	-59.9	0.142	28,619	13,446
1997	42,013	203,568	0.206	3,599	26,974	0.133	-60.9	0.138	28,182	13,831
1998	41,501	208,076	0.199	3,421	27,538	0.124	-63.6	0.129	26,820	14,681
1999	41,717	212,685	0.196	3,423	28,368	0.121	-64.6	0.125	26,628	15,089
2000	41,945	217,028	0.193	3,409	28,898	0.118	-65.4	0.122	26,564	15,381
2001	42,196	221,230	0.191	3,450	29,747	0.116	-66.0	0.120	26,622	15,574
2002	42,815	224,974	0.190	3,431	30,557	0.112	-67.1	0.117	26,210	16,605	*
total number of fewer US fatalities if US rate had declined in step with British rate										177,593

A: what US rate would have been if it had declined by same percent as British rate

B: what US fatalities would have been for US vehicle fleet if vehicle rate had been as in column A

C: the number of US fatalities prevented if US rate had declined in step with British rate

* If US rate changes had matched those in GB, 16,605 fewer Americans would have been killed in 2002.

In 2002, US fatalities would have been 26,210 rather than the observed 42,815.