Highway Deaths compared to COVID Deaths

Reports, announcements, statistics from NHTSA, NTSB, FHWA, IIHS, and others related to Highway Safety
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2302
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Highway Deaths compared to COVID Deaths

Post by MSI »

A post on Linkedin:
mask v seat belt.png
mask v seat belt.png (257.4 KiB) Viewed 1004 times
  • It's been a year since COVID-19 came. According to who figures, 1.360,000 people have died in the year and more than 57 million have been infected, many of them recovering. According to the same organization, more than 1.350,000 people die each year from accidents and more than 50 million people suffer disabilities that may not improve... What have we done and what are we doing to prevent deaths from accidents that can be in our control?! Is it harder to fasten seat belts than wearing masks?
COMMENT:
Worldwide there is a ill-informed resistance to wearing seat belts and seat belt laws just as there has been an ill-informed resistance in many countries to wearing a mask.
It is due to a failure of our education systems to help people critically think and evaluate and realize the important scientific reasons behind the need to wear a seat belt and/or a mask.
It all comes down to consideration of our fellow human beings:
  • In car crashes, you only hurt yourself by not wearing a seat belt.
    • However you may waste time and space at local hospitals since injuries can occur at much lower speeds without the use of the seat belt.
  • In pandemics, like COVID, you risk the lives of MANY others by selfishly not wearing a mask and physically/socially distancing.
    • Sure THE INDIVIDUAL may not die from COVID however THE INDIVIDUAL May carry the virus and infect others.
      And if infected THE INDIVIDUAL wastes important time and space at the local hospital. Should folks who refuse to wear masks have to sign a waiver to refuse treatment at hospitals? And what about others THEY infect?
BE CONSIDERATE!

NOTE: comparing car crashes to COVID is not appropriate.
  • The death rate per million miles traveled for car crashes has been going down (in most countries) and is exponentially less than the death rate per infection for COVID
    (and note that COVID is 5-10 times higher death rate than the death rate for FLU although many try to compare the two)
Here are related posts some with the actual statistics for highway deaths, etc
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2302
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Re: Highway Deaths compared to COVID Deaths

Post by MSI »

The Linkedin author responded to my comment:
  • respectfully I disagree with you. in car crashes we can hurt others like COVID by selfishly fast driving, distracted driving and ... . also in both of them we can improve safety by social distancing (2-3 seconds rule in driving and 1-2 meters rule in COVID). in both we need to respect rules. wearing mask: wearing seat-belts. social distancing (1-2 meters: 2-3 seconds). stop touching face: stop touching cell-phone.
    both of them kills people in low-income countries more than high-income countries.
    COVID may end in 1 or 2 years while accidents have been threatening human lives for a long time and will not end. while in the last year both of them killed more than 1.350 millions people you can see the reaction of social media. Since accidents have become routine, no one pays enough attention to it.
Comment:

Your original post was comparing the effects of seat belts use in cars to mask use on COVID and comparing the annual deaths for the two.
Now you have expanded it to include other items related to the two issues: highway/vehicle safety vs. COVID safety.

I agree that more rigorous enforcement of traffic laws and behaviors will further reduce deaths.
In the US many are selfishly resistant to speed cameras and red light cameras.
Also increased penalties for speeding and other dangerous vehicle behaviors need to be implemented.
Until these are universally accepted there will be no incentive for revision of driver behaviors.
Here is a comparison of the death rates per hundred million VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) for US
And a EU comparison for death rate for population (quick look didn't find per VMT)
There is a downward trend
US Death per VMT and EU.png
US Death per VMT and EU.png (279.93 KiB) Viewed 993 times
Obviously all countries, including low income countries, need to prioritize highway and vehicle safety to reduce the rate of deaths.
JUst like now all countries need to prioritize and enforce mask mandates to get control on this COVID pandemic.
However comparisons of the deaths for each is not a comparable comparison.

From the chart you see traffic laws and enforcement and vehicle safety improvements have significantly improved the death rate per 100 million Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) in the US. There is also improvements in many other countries worldwide however i agree that there is and will always be a need to further reduce the death rate per 100 million VMT.
So vehicle and highway safety has and always should be a priority. And i agree that more attention needs to be paid to developing low-income countries. Unfortunately with the economic hardships this pandemic has and will continue to have on all countries the lives lost in motor vehicle crashes may not be a high priority, particularly in lower income countries.
MSI
Site Admin
Posts: 2302
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:37 pm

Re: Highway Deaths compared to COVID Deaths

Post by MSI »

The following is the authors response:
  • the original post was not about comparing the effects of seat belts use and mask use. It was just an example. The main goal of my post is paying attention to road accidents as well as COVID. Both of them are pandemic that kill people. I think you can help people to show the importance of road safety as a professional person in vehicle crash investigation. Thanks
Post Reply