As much as we discuss car accidents and their tragic ramifications, it’s sometimes nice to know that these types of terrible incidents are actually on the decline across the country.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has just released a report entitled An Analysis of Recent Improvements to Traffic Safety. What they found was that one million injuries were prevented between the years 2000 and 2008 thanks to advances in vehicle safety technology. In addition, 2,000 people survived what would have been a fatal collision without the new safety features. These statistics equate to an 82% chance that individuals won’t be harmed in a crash, up from 79% in 2000.
This comes despite the fact that the Department of Transportation believes we’re driving more miles now than in the recent past. In 2010, 32,885 people perished in an accident related to traffic, which seems like a high number. But when you consider that this is actually the lowest rate of death in more than 60 years, it puts those statistics in a much better light.
The other good news is that your chances of actually being in a crash, injuries or no, is on the decline as well. If you drive a vehicle with a model year of 2008, there’s only a 25% chance you’ll be in an accident within 100,000 miles of driving time. This is down from 30% with cars of the 2000 model year.