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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 266,686 additional Americans died because US failed to match Australian safety performance

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

	USA			Australia
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	3,508	7,358	0.477	—	0.354	51,093	—
1980	51,091	146,845	0.348	3,272	7,574	0.432	-9.4	0.321	47,108	3,983
1981	49,301	149,330	0.330	3,321	7,918	0.419	-12.0	0.311	46,510	2,791
1982	43,945	151,148	0.291	3,252	8,346	0.390	-18.3	0.289	43,734	211
1983	42,589	153,830	0.277	2,755	8,590	0.321	-32.7	0.238	36,636	5,953
1984	44,257	158,900	0.279	2,822	8,833	0.319	-33.0	0.237	37,698	6,559
1985	43,825	166,047	0.264	2,941	9,118	0.323	-32.3	0.240	39,771	4,054
1986	46,087	168,545	0.273	2,888	9,291	0.311	-34.8	0.231	38,904	7,183
1987	46,390	172,750	0.269	2,772	9,374	0.296	-38.0	0.220	37,934	8,456
1988	47,087	177,455	0.265	2,887	9,544	0.302	-36.6	0.225	39,861	7,226
1989	45,582	181,165	0.252	2,801	9,806	0.286	-40.1	0.212	38,427	7,155
1990	44,599	184,275	0.242	2,331	10,081	0.231	-51.5	0.172	31,641	12,958
1991	41,508	186,370	0.223	2,113	9,934	0.213	-55.4	0.158	29,437	12,071
1992	39,250	184,938	0.212	1,974	10,247	0.193	-59.6	0.143	26,456	12,794
1993	40,150	188,350	0.213	1,953	10,432	0.187	-60.7	0.139	26,186	13,964
1994	40,716	192,497	0.212	1,928	10,699	0.180	-62.2	0.134	25,759	14,957
1995	41,817	197,065	0.212	2,017	10,935	0.184	-61.3	0.137	26,991	14,826
1996	42,065	201,631	0.209	1,970	11,401	0.173	-63.8	0.128	25,871	16,194
1997	42,013	203,568	0.206	1,768	11,664	0.152	-68.2	0.113	22,913	19,100
1998	41,501	208,076	0.199	1,755	12,067	0.145	-69.5	0.108	22,472	19,029
1999	41,717	212,685	0.196	1,763	12,269	0.144	-69.9	0.107	22,695	19,022
2000	41,945	217,028	0.193	1,822	12,477	0.146	-69.4	0.108	23,534	18,411
2001	42,196	221,230	0.191	1,736	12,489	0.139	-70.8	0.103	22,835	19,361
2002	42,815	224,974	0.190	1,715	12,799	0.134	-71.9	0.100	22,386	20,429	*
total number of fewer US fatalities if US rate had declined in step with Australian rate										266,686

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

* If US rate changes had matched those in Australia, 20,429 fewer Americans would have been killed in 2002.

In 2002, US fatalities would have been 22,386 rather than the observed 42,815.