Steady decline in traffic fatalities reported: What California drivers should know
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A recent report by a federal agency reveals a promising trend: Car accident fatalities declined in 2011 for the sixth consecutive year. Last year’s number of highway deaths was the lowest since 1949.
A drop in the number of car accident deaths is certainly welcome news. Los Angeles personal injury attorney Mickey Fine has represented people seriously injured in car accidents. At the Law Offices of Mickey Fine, we have seen how devastating a serious injury can be for the individual who was hurt and his or her family.
The recent report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration includes preliminary projections showing that 32,310 people died in car accidents last year, a decrease of 375 deaths from the prior year. In 2005, there were 43,510 highway deaths, according to the NHTSA.
The reasons behind the reduction include high seat belt use, safer cars and safer roads, according to Jonathan Adkins, spokesman for the Governors Highway Safety Association who was quoted in the Washington Post. He also cited continued high gas prices and high unemployment as factors in the steady slide in car accident fatalities.
He said the Association also suspects that people, including inexperienced teenage drivers, are not taking as many optional trips. And the increased use of cameras to catch speeders and drivers running red lights has been considered a factor for reducing accidents.
The federal agency is still awaiting state data to calculate final numbers for 2011. In 2010, the death count increased by 97 when the revised tally was released in December of last year, according to the Washington Post.
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