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Traffic Fatalities Down; High Gas Prices The Reason?

By | Tuesday, July 22, 2008, 04:13 PM

Finally, some good news from the insanity of $4-plus gas prices.

According to the National Safety Council, motor vehicle deaths are down 9 percent for the first five months of the year, compared to the same period in 2007.

In Florida, traffic fatalities dropped 11 percent.

Pinpointing the exact reason is difficult, experts say, but the decrease is occurring at the same time as gas prices go through the roof.

People also are driving less. Travel was down 1.8 percent in April, continuing a trend that began late last year.

Other possible causes are increased speed enforcement and crackdowns on drunk driving in many states, better teen licensing programs and safer vehicles.

However, the last time that highway deaths fell this much was in 1973-74, during the Arab oil embargo. That’s when the national speed limit was lowered to 55 mph. Fatalities fell 17 percent.

There’s a move afoot to once again impose a uniform highway speed limit, until we can work our way out of this gas price mess.

So can we expect our highways to remain a little safer? Probably so.

Despite last week’s price decrease, the long-term prognosis shows gas prices will not be declining significantly any time soon.

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