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Devoted to adding reason and knowledge to public policy. 22 nd World Congress 13-16 May 2011 Chongqing, China. Science Serving Society .com. International Comparisons Suggest Effective Safety Policy. Dr. Leonard Evans. President, Science Serving Society Bloomfield Hills, Michigan USA.
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Devoted to adding reason and knowledge to public policy 22nd World Congress 13-16 May 2011 Chongqing, China ScienceServingSociety.com International Comparisons Suggest Effective Safety Policy Dr. Leonard Evans President, Science Serving Society Bloomfield Hills, Michigan USA
Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) .. but his chapter “The Dramatic Failure of U.S. Safety Policy” is the showstopper Study builds on material in Particularly Chapter titled The Dramatic Failure of U.S. Safety Policy
Earlier policy conclusions were based on comparing US safety performance with that in 3 comparison countries This study compares US safety performance with that in 27 countries Data Sources The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) US Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) Chinese data, and other recent data
Questions addressed in this study Do earlier conclusions based on data thru 2002 persist? Are earlier claims that three comparison countries were not “special” validated by other countries? Are conclusion validated with even more clarity and confidence
maximum value54,589 in 1972 United States
Why did traffic deaths in USA and other countries have such steep declines in last few years? We know for certain it is not due to: vehicles roads
#Unimp Fatalities ↑ ↓ ↑ ↓ 29 X X 4 X X 21 X X 8 X X
Other measures examined in same way as the relative to 1979 comparisons: changes since 2002 deaths per 1000 vehicles (US best in world in 1970s – now ranked 17) deaths per billion km - data available only for few countries (US best in world in 1970s – now ranked 11) Findings always similar – USA is outlier, pervious 3 comparison countries are unremarkable Measure we now examine in detail – percent reduction since reaching maximum value
China MAXIMUM of 109,381 deaths in 2002 67,759 deaths in 2009
Sweden MAXIMUM of 1,313 deaths in 1966 32,788 deaths in 2010 287 deaths in 2010
Sweden had 287 traffic deaths in 2010 This is 78.1% below Sweden’s all time high of 1313 in 1966 If US total had fallen by 78.1% from its high, US total would be 11,932 More than 20,000 additional Americans are being killed annually because US does not match Swedish decline
Why does The Dramatic Failure of US Safety Policy persist? Continued obsessive focus on vehicles on relatively unimportant aspects, or even non-existent phenomena like Toyota phantom acceleration U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced Friday, April 1, 2011: “We will continue doing everything possible to make cars safer, etc. …”
US performance is still well described as: The Dramatic Failure of US Safety Policy Conclusions Ongoing American tragedy due to “ignorance in action” Earlier conclusions now validated with even greater clarity
Conclusions (continued) other countries must avoid copying US instead choose policies consistent with what science finds traffic safety is such an enormous problem that almost everything is important vehicle factors are important roadway factors are more important but it is the behavior of road users that is overwhelmingly important