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Comparisons
between US and:

vehicle rate

dist. rate

Background and more

information in 2004 book

Click for info on

Traffic Safety

Canada

Australia

This calculation provides the value in Table 15-7, p.388, of Traffic Safety that 221,413 additional Americans died because US failed to match Canadian safety performance

US versus Canada traffic fatalities per thousand registered vehicles (vehicle rate)

	USA			Canada
year	traffic fatalities	vehicles (thous)	fatalities per thou vehicles	traffic fatalities	vehicles (thous)	fatalities per thou vehicles	percent change from 1979	A	B	C
1979	51,093	144,317	0.354	5,863	13,329	0.440	—	0.354	51,093	—
1980	51,091	146,845	0.348	5,461	13,661	0.400	-9.1	0.322	47,247	3,844
1981	49,301	149,330	0.330	5,383	13,836	0.389	-11.6	0.313	46,761	2,540
1982	43,945	151,148	0.291	4,169	14,310	0.291	-33.8	0.234	35,442	8,503
1983	42,589	153,830	0.277	4,216	14,622	0.288	-34.5	0.232	35,699	6,890
1984	44,257	158,900	0.279	4,120	14,407	0.286	-35.0	0.230	36,574	7,683
1985	43,825	166,047	0.264	4,364	14,818	0.295	-33.0	0.237	39,359	4,466
1986	46,087	168,545	0.273	4,068	15,336	0.265	-39.7	0.213	35,984	10,103
1987	46,390	172,750	0.269	4,286	15,793	0.271	-38.3	0.218	37,734	8,656
1988	47,087	177,455	0.265	4,154	16,336	0.254	-42.2	0.205	36,319	10,768
1989	45,582	181,165	0.252	4,246	16,720	0.254	-42.3	0.204	37,029	8,553
1990	44,599	184,275	0.242	3,965	16,981	0.233	-46.9	0.188	34,631	9,968
1991	41,508	186,370	0.223	3,691	16,444	0.224	-49.0	0.181	33,669	7,839
1992	39,250	184,938	0.212	3,500	16,581	0.211	-52.0	0.170	31,420	7,830
1993	40,150	188,350	0.213	3,614	16,717	0.216	-50.9	0.174	32,773	7,377
1994	40,716	192,497	0.212	3,260	16,971	0.192	-56.3	0.155	29,762	10,954
1995	41,817	197,065	0.212	3,351	17,047	0.197	-55.3	0.158	31,179	10,638
1996	42,065	201,631	0.209	3,091	17,183	0.180	-59.1	0.145	29,193	12,872
1997	42,013	203,568	0.206	3,064	17,518	0.175	-60.2	0.141	28,657	13,356
1998	41,501	208,076	0.199	2,949	17,988	0.164	-62.7	0.132	27,456	14,045
1999	41,717	212,685	0.196	2,985	17,534	0.170	-61.3	0.137	29,142	12,575
2000	41,945	217,028	0.193	2,926	17,882	0.164	-62.8	0.132	28,582	13,363
2001	42,196	221,230	0.191	2,778	18,102	0.153	-65.1	0.124	27,326	14,870
2002	42,815	224,974	0.190	2,936	18,271	0.161	-63.5	0.129	29,097	13,718	*
total number of fewer US fatalities if US rate had declined in step with Canadian rate										221,413

A: what US rate would have been if it had declined by same percent as Canadian rate

B: what US fatalities would have been for US vehicle fleet if vehicle rate had been as in column A

C: the number of US fatalities prevented if US rate had declined in step with Canadian rate

* If US rate changes had matched those in Canada, 13,718 fewer Americans would have been killed in 2002.

In 2002, US fatalities would have been 29,097 rather than the observed 42,815.