More Shocking Arizona Fatality Stats
All of the 2006 state-by-state figures are now available, as I predicted — see Arizona leads the nation – fatality rates in Arizona which were already high, have climbed again. Both the per capita traffic fatality rate and per mile rate are now 46% higher than the US as a whole. The per capita rate is over 3 times worse than the “best state”.
And for bicyclists, there is hopeful news, the 2006 number of Arizona cyclist fatalities at 29 (out of 1288 total) seems to be in line with historical trends. The 2005 number was atypically high at 35. .
| 2006 | Fatalities | Fatality Rate per 100M VMT | Fatality Rate per 100K Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 1,288 | 2.06 (46% above US ave.) | 20.89 (46% above US ave.) |
| US | 42,642 | 1.42 | 14.24 |
| Best State | 0.78 | 6.36 |
.
| 2005 | Fatalities | Fatality Rate per 100M VMT | Fatality Rate per 100K Population |
| Arizona | 1,179 | 1.97 (35% above US ave.) | 19.81 (35% above US ave.) |
| US | 43,510 | 1.46 | 14.67 |
| Best State | 0.80 | 6.85 |
.
Community columnist Doug Campos-Outcalt wrote an interesting essay on traffic safety and how the legislature might help increase safety. It appeared in the Arizona Republic local edition on Sept, 27, 2007 (e.g. The Ahwatukee Republic): Legislature can do more to help curb traffic fatalities. He recounts a number of safety-oriented bills that “…stalled because they failed to receive a hearing in the House Transportation Committee, chaired by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert”.
January 13th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
[…] official overall US fatality rate is 1.46 per 100 million VMT (Vehicle miles traveled. NHTSA data here, and also note that Arizona rates are significantly worse). Since the number of occupants per […]
January 20th, 2008 at 1:36 pm
[…] How does this jive with Arizona’s abysmally high fatality rate? […]
January 20th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
[…] Leads the Nation [update: also see this […]
March 12th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
[…] sixth out of 85 not too shabby! This goes hand-in-hand with Arizona’s impressively high traffic fatality rate. Which is something else the press isn’t interested in. …The report looked at 85 […]
March 26th, 2008 at 11:52 am
with regard to a comment on: “A sneaky effort underway to kill interlock for DUI offenders?”
“A major portion of the crashes that injure and kill innocent people on the highways are caused by individuals who are driving while in an condition of extreme DUI,…”
This is simply not the case — or at least it depends what you mean by the term “major portion”. In AZ in 2006, 32% of the fatalities had a *driver* involved who was drunk. See NHSTA stats. Some sub-portion of this 32% were extreme.
Arizona, on the other hand, does have a major traffic fatality problem — of which drunk driving is one piece. Our fatality rates are a horrendous 46% higher than the US as a whole.
It seems to me we need a re-think of laws/punishment and law enforcement as it relates to traffic safety. Simply focusing on drunk driving isn’t working anymore