"This is exciting news, but there are still far too many people dying in traffic accidents," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "Drivers need to keep their hands on the steering wheel and their focus on the road in order to stay safe."
In 2009, highway death has reached a number of 33,963, declining 8.9 percent as compared to the 37,261 deaths reported in 2008. The fatality rate for 2009 declined to the lowest on record, to 1.16 fatalities per 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) down from 1.25 fatalities per 100 million VMT in 2008.
"This continuing decline in highway deaths is encouraging, but our work is far from over," said National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator David Strickland. "We want to see those numbers drop further. We will not stop as long as there are still lives lost on our nation's highways. We must continue our efforts to ensure seat belts are always used and stay focused on reducing distracted and impaired driving."
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that the fatalities drop is due to the combination of factors like:
- Click It or Ticket campaign to increase seat belt use
- Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest campaign which helps with the enforcement of state laws to prevent drunk driving and distracted driving
- safer roads
- safer vehicles
- motorists driving less.
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