NHTSA: Drop in Traffic Accident Fatalities in 2013

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System for 2013. The data clearly indicates a significant decrease of 3.1% in the number of people killed in traffic accidents in 2013, compared to the previous year. Since 2004, there has been an almost 25% drop in the number of people killed in accidents across the country.

There was also a drop in the number of people injured in accidents. Those numbers dropped by 2.1% in 2013, compared to the previous year. Overall, 32,790 people died in traffic accidents in 2013. 34 states recorded a drop in traffic accident fatalities, and the highest decreases were reported by Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Arkansas.

There was also a drop of 2.5% in the number of people killed in alcohol-related car accidents in 2013. However, in 2013, drunk driving accidents were still responsible for more than 10,000 fatalities.

Sadly however, California did not mirror that nationwide trend. In this state, there was actually an increase in traffic accident fatalities in 2013, compared to the previous year. Last year, California reported 3,000 traffic accident fatalities, compared to 2,966 the previous year. That is an increase of 34 fatalities.

Out of those 3,000 fatalities, 857 involved drunk driving accidents. That was an increase from the number of drunk driving accident fatalities recorded in 2012. In California, drunk driving accident fatalities accounted for approximately 29% of the total number of accident fatalities.

The upward trend in drunk driving accident fatalities in California is of great concern to any San Jose car accident lawyer. California transportation authorities need to increase implementation of sobriety checkpoints, and focus on stringent anti-drunk driving measures to help prevent these fatalities.