A new report on global traffic deaths explains why the United States lags behind the developed world in traffic safety: We drive too much and our laws are too lenient on deadly behavior.
The World Health Organization’s global report — which reviewed laws and accidents in 175 countries — shows the U.S. traffic fatality rate is 12.4 deaths per 100,000 — or about 50 percent higher than similar countries in Western Europe, as well as Canada and Australia. And Japan.
About 1.3 million people are killed globally in traffic accidents every year, a large proportion of whom are pedestrians. Road traffic fatalities are now the leading cause of death globally for those aged 5 to 29 years.
Previous studies have revealed that Americans drive more, with the per capita driving rate of about 8,800 kilometers, compared to 4,300 kilometers in Canada, 7,000 kilometers in Germany, and less than 1,700 kilometers in Japan.
But the World Health Organization’s international comparisons show that the United States’ safety policies are seriously out of step with the rest of the developed world. Here’s a look:
Bad seat belt laws
American law does not require the use of a seat belt in the back seat, unlike the vast majority of countries in the world. Seat belts reduce the risk of injury and death by 50 percent in the front seat and 25 percent in the back seat, according to the United Nations Health Organization.
The seat belt wearing rate in the United States has improved to 90 percent. But peer countries perform better. In Canada, the seat belt wearing rate is 95 percent. This means our non-compliance rate is twice that of Canada.
Drunk driving laws
Our drink driving laws are also very lenient compared to peer countries and compared to World Health Organization recommendations. Many studies have shown that driving is impaired when blood alcohol concentration levels fall below 0.08. The World Health Organization recommends that drunk driving laws be enforced at a low level of 0.05 BAC, as is the case in most Western European countries, as well as Canada, Australia, Brazil, and China.
Canada, for example, also imposes tougher penalties on drivers caught violating the law. Some countries, such as Sweden, with the best traffic safety records, strictly control alcohol sales.
Vehicle standards
The United States also lags behind world leaders when it comes to vehicle safety, and falls short of standards set by the United Nations. We have published extensively, for example, on how the United States (under Trump) has resisted adding safety features to vehicles that would help protect pedestrians in crashes, even as fatality rates rise.
Speed demons
Finally, the United States fails to control driver speed as is the case in other countries. For speed control laws to work fairly well, the World Health Organization says urban street speeds should be strictly limited to about 31 mph. In the United States, localities often cannot modify their speed limits but need permission at the state level, another red flag for the World Health Organization. Worse still, many areas don’t even start handing out tickets until drivers exceed the posted speed limit by more than 10 mph.
Canada, Western Europe, Australia, and even China and Mexico have stricter speed controls than we do. Some US safety officials, such as the National Transportation Safety Board, have sounded the alarm that the lack of progress on speeding is a major factor in the deteriorating US traffic safety record. In recent years, we’ve actually regressed, with 30 states raising highway speed limits to 70 mph since 1995, often with deadly results.
The World Health Organization’s 2018 Global Status Report on Road Safety highlights other safety failures as well. Our laws on motorcycle helmets are worse than those of Russia and India. Our child restraint laws, which apply only to children up to the age of four, are more lenient than the World Health Organization recommends and worse than in all of Western Europe.
The findings are consistent with what Canadian traffic safety expert Neil Arason told Streetsblog about why Canada’s traffic safety record is so much better than the United States. Our laws are too lenient – we value “liberty” over safety (people’s lives) – and we don’t. They have sufficient alternatives to driving, such as high-quality urban transport.
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