Dimensions of the Traffic Safety Problem

The motor-vehicle traffic accident problem today is one of our major socio-economic problems. Traffic accidents account for the loss of 40,000 lives a year, for about 1½ million injuries, and for an economic loss of perhaps 5 billion dollars. An estimated 100,000 households are affected to a major degree each year by traffic accidents, and the nation's economy suffers a loss of some 500,000 man-years of productive time. Traffic accidents rank sixth among all causes of death; but in the important 15 to 24 age group, they lead by a wide margin. Trends in recent years reveal fewer deaths in cities and towns and increased fatalities in rural areas. To some extent this is accounted for by increased rural travel, but the rural accident rate is out of proportion to the additional exposure. Reporting of accidents is not uniform, particularly as it concerns injury and property damage cases. More important, however, is the fact that present reporting procedures do not produce valid facts about the causes of accidents. Research now underway may help answer questions as to why accidents happen and thus suggest ways to reduce our current accident rate.