According to IIHS president Adrian Lund, “In recent years it's the vehicles, not better drivers or improved roadways. The study reveals not only the importance of the vehicle design changes and the kinds of vehicles motorists are choosing to drive but, on the downside, the loss of momentum for effective traffic safety policies on belt use, alcohol-impaired driving, and speeding."
The study focused on two factors that influenced the driver death rate during 1985-2004 in order to clarify what has been making deaths per registered vehicle go down. The first factor is how vehicle use patterns change as vehicles age and the second is vehicle design changes or “the introduction over time of different types of vehicles and more crashworthy ones to replace vehicles that weren't doing as good a job of protecting their occupants.”
Lund went on to comment on speed limits and how it relates to safety:
The downward trend in death rates even as speed limits were being raised on US roads led some speed advocates to argue that posted limits don't matter. But our research shows that speed limits do matter because, once we adjusted for vehicle age and design, what became clear are the escalating dangers of everyday traffic. We have serious problems out there with faster travel speeds, and we need to address these problems with effective policies. Of course, we also need to continue to improve vehicles because right now this is the main protection in crashes associated with unchecked driving behavior like speeding.
The fact many drivers can’t drive safely with increased speed limits is a sad truth in this country. Any ideas why so many U.S. drivers can’t seem to drive safely at higher speeds?
