November 2005

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Drivers consider aggressive and careless motorists their biggest worries, but most admit they sometimes drive that way themselves.

Nine out of 10 drivers admitted to having done something stupid on the road within the last six months, according to a survey released by Drive for Life, a safety group sponsored by Volvo of North America. Young drivers were the most likely to admit it.

Of the survey’s 1,100 respondents, 74 percent said careless or aggressive driving was the biggest threat on the road. A majority said other drivers aggravated them the most, while 16 percent cited traffic delays and 14 percent said road conditions. Researchers also asked what other behaviors in other drivers annoyed them the most. A third of drivers said cell phone use. Tailgating and not signaling filled out the top three.

Those questioned by researchers admitted they were part of the problem. Ninety percent said they had made the roads less safe at least once in the last six months. They said their main offenses were speeding (68 percent) and eating while driving (52 percent).

The death rate in auto crashes went down again in 2004, according to data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Overall, 42,636 people died in car crashes in the U.S. last year. That’s 248 fewer than the 42,884 who died in 2003.

The decline also means that slightly fewer people died for every 100 million vehicle miles driven in the U.S. last year. In 2004, 1.46 people died for every 100 million miles driven in this country. In 2003, that number was 1.48. In 1966, 5.5 people died for every 100 million vehicle miles driven, according to NHTSA, and the death rate has been steadily improving since then.

Alcohol-related fatalities dropped 2.4 percent, from 17,105 in 2003 to 16,694 in 2004. Safety groups attributed the decrease to all 50 states moving toward a uniform standard for drunken driving and to high-visibility enforcement such as sobriety checkpoints.

More than half – 55 percent – of those killed in vehicle crashes were not wearing safety belts.

The effects of secondhand tobacco smoke cost the U.S. economy nearly $10 billion a year, ranging from medical bills to lost hours on the job, according to a study commissioned by insurance actuaries. Researchers for the Society of Actuaries and a researcher at Georgia State University’s business school arrived at these figures after reviewing more than 200 studies published since 1964.

The Wall Street Journal reported that researchers concluded that among the medical conditions more common to those exposed to secondhand smoke are sudden infant death syndrome and chronic pulmonary disease, as well as asthma and spontaneous abortion.

Donald F. Behan, the study’s lead author and a senior research associate with Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, said, “There seems to be a relatively greater impact on children than adults.”

Despite the continuing decline in overall highway deaths, motorcycle fatalities nationwide have surged to their highest levels since 1987.

Last year, 4,008 motorcycle riders were killed in highway accidents, up 7.9 percent from 2003 and 89 percent higher than in 1997, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report.

Possible causes cited for the increase in motorcycle deaths: a sharp rise in motorcycle ownership, rollback of mandatory helmet laws and an increase in inexperienced bikers riding powerful machines.

In 1995, Americans bought an estimated 230,000 new on-highway motorcycles. In 2004, that number skyrocketed to 734,000.

Working long hours drives up the risk of workplace injury and illness, according to a study conducted by occupational medicine researchers. They conclude that the risk has nothing to do with how hazardous the job is.

The study revealed that, after adjusting for age, gender, type of industry and job, employees working overtime were 61 percent more likely to sustain a work-related injury or illness than employees who did not work overtime.

Working at least 12 hours a day was associated with a 37 percent increased risk of injury or illness, while working at least 60 hours a week was associated with a 23 percent increased risk, compared with those who worked fewer hours.

Authors of the study said their findings back up the theory that long working hours indirectly precipitate workplace accidents by inducing fatigue and stress.

Front-seat fatalities involving children have declined since 1996 as adults have become more aware that youngsters are safer in the back seat wearing seat belts.

Fatalities involving children 12 or younger in the front seat dropped 46 percent from 1996 to 2003, according to a study released by the Air Bag & Seat Belt Safety Campaign of the National Safety Council. Its findings were reported in the National Safety Council’s Journal of Safety Research. The number of such deaths per year during that span declined from 586 to 314. The private safety group found the overall number of child fatalities in vehicles slid 18 percent during the same period.