Research: Many Traffic Tragedies Could Be Prevented
With holiday travels at hand and more of us on the road, remember that simple precautions might save your life. A research team at the Indiana University Center for Urban Policy and the Environment has just released 2006 Indiana Crash Facts, a book summarizing a series of reports on traffic safety for Indiana, reports that include some disturbing statistics.
"We all hear about the importance of seat belts, alcohol, and speeding, but some people don't realize that these behaviors are tied to alarming statistics," said Sam Nunn, director of Criminal Justice Research at the Indiana University Center for Urban Policy and the Environment and professor at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs.
"If we could eliminate three problems-driving under the influence of alcohol, seat belt violations, and speeding, serious accidents would drop drastically," said Nunn.
"Alcohol has a perilous link to traffic fatalities," said Nunn. In Indiana in 2006, nearly one-third of the fatal collisions were alcohol-related, and collision victims were seven times more likely to die when alcohol was involved. Incapacitating injuries were almost four times as likely.
"Seltbelt use is also critical," said Nunn. "Half of the people killed in traffic collisions in Indiana last year were not wearing seat belts." Some of these fatalities were children. In 2006 in Indiana, 45 percent of children 15 years or younger who were fatally injured in a collision were not using appropriate safety restraints.
A third critical factor, speeding, was involved in 20 percent of the fatal crashes in Indiana last year. Speeding increases both the likelihood of a crash and the severity if one occurs. Nunn said that speed-related collisions typically peak during the morning rush hour (7 to 8 am) and at the start of the evening rush hour.
While it's no surprise to parents of teenagers, the Center's research also shows that age and driving experience make a dramatic difference behind the wheel. In Indiana, one-fourth of the licensed drivers age 16 and 17 were involved in a collision in 2006, compared to 5.7 percent of licensed drivers between the ages of 25 and 44.
The team worked on their reports from April through November of this year. The full series includes fact sheets on issues such as alcohol, trucks, speeding, children, motorcycles, safety restraints, and young drivers; a county report that identifies intersections in each county with the highest numbers of serious-injury crashes and includes data on fatalities, collisions by age group, and speeding- and alcohol-related crashes, and 2006 Indiana Crash Facts, a comprehensive look at traffic crash statistics for 2006.
The analyses were created in partnership with the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute. The data will be used to help policymakers and planners make informed decisions about traffic programs.
Located in Indianapolis, the Center for Urban Policy and the Environment is a nonpartisan applied research organization in the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs. For more information, visit the Center's Web site (http://www.urbancenter.iupui.edu/). All of the Center's traffic safety reports are available on-line at http://www.urbancenter.iupui.edu/PubResources/pubResources_pubs.asp?subcategoryID=28&categoryid=3.
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