As gas prices soar, traffic deaths slow

9% drop reported through May; drunken driving also curbed

Associated Press

July 23, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Rising prices at the gas pump appear to be having at least one positive effect: Traffic deaths around the country are plummeting, just as they did during the Arab oil embargo more than three decades ago.

Researchers with the National Safety Council report 9 percent fewer motor vehicle deaths through May than in the first five months of 2007, including decreases of 18 percent in March and 14 percent in April.

Preliminary figures obtained by the Associated Press show that some states have reported declines of 20 percent or more. Thirty-one states have reported declines of at least 10 percent, and eight have reported increases, according to the council.

No one can say definitively why road fatalities are falling, but it is happening as Americans cut back sharply on driving because of record-high gas prices.

Fewer on the road

Fewer people on the road means fewer fatalities, said Gus Williams, 52, of Albany, Ga., who frequently drives to northern Ohio. "That shows a good thing coming out of this crisis." He has also noticed that many motorists are going slower.

The federal government reported in April that miles traveled were 1.8 percent lower in April than in the same month a year earlier, continuing a trend that began in November.

Experts say a slumping economy and rising fuel prices have brought down the number of road fatalities in a hurry.

"When the economy is in the tank and fuel prices are high, you typically see a decline in miles driven and traffic deaths," said John Ulczycki, the safety council's executive director for transportation safety.

States point to other factors such as police stepping up their pursuit of speeders and drunken drivers, better programs for licensing teenage drivers, safer vehicles and winter weather that kept many drivers at home.

The Governors Highway Safety Association says seat belt use is probably at a record high and will top 90 percent in several states when figures are released this year.

The last time road deaths fell this fast and this sharply was during the Arab oil embargo in 1973-1974, when fatalities tumbled 17 percent, from about 55,100 to 46,000; and as states raised the drinking age to 21 in 1982-1983, when fatalities fell 11 percent, from roughly 49,300 to 44,000.

Chuck Hurley, a former official with the National Safety Council and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, said half of the decline in road deaths during the 1970s was attributed to high gas prices. The remainder was linked to the lowering of freeway speed limits to 55 mph.

Republican Sen. John W. Warner of Virginia has said Congress might want to consider reimposing a national speed limit.

Hurley, now chief executive of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said gas prices have also helped curb drunken driving.

It is clear that as in the early 1970s, motorists are reducing discretionary travel and the kind of late-night outings for alcohol that often lead to deadly accidents, Hurley said.

"People are going home early or stopping by a store and buying a case of beer and taking it home," said Maj. Daniel Lonsdorf of the Wisconsin State Patrol.

More walking

Peg Withrow, 48, of Columbus said she does more walking and has canceled or delayed trips, including a visit to see her parents in South Carolina. When she does get into a car, Withrow and her fiance discuss whether it's cheaper to take a freeway or city streets.

"Before we leave the house, we plan a route," Withrow said as she loaded groceries into her Ford F-250 pickup truck, which she calls a "gas hog."

Fatality rates have changed little over the past 15 years or so, totaling 42,642 in 2006, the last year for which complete figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are available.

Regulators say a better gauge of road fatalities is the number per 100 million miles traveled, a rate that has been declining even when Americans were driving more. In 2006, that figure fell to its lowest level ever, 1.42 deaths per 100 million miles.

The decrease this year is even greater and appears to be accelerating.