(This article is reproduced, with permission, from the website of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety at http://www.highwaysafety.org.)

Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death among Americans 1-34 years old. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the total societal cost of crashes exceeds $150 billion annually. Contributing to the death toll are alcohol, speed, and various other driver behaviors plus the kinds of vehicles people drive and the roads on which they travel.

In 1975, the US Department of Transportation started an annual census of motor vehicle deaths, recording information on crash type, vehicle type, road type, driver characteristics, and a variety of other factors. Institute researchers analyze these data each year to quantify the public health problem of motor vehicle deaths.

The following facts are based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System:

• 41,471 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 1998. This is 7 percent fewer than in 1975.
• The 41,471 deaths in 1998 occurred in 37,081 crashes involving 56,865 motor vehicles.

VEHICLE TYPES

• Fifty-four percent of motor vehicle deaths in 1998 were car occupants. Twenty-three percent were occupants of other kinds of passenger vehicles including pickups, utility vehicles, and cargo/large vans.
• Since the mid-1970s, passenger vehicle occupant deaths have represented a growing proportion of motor vehicle deaths while deaths in virtually all other categories have declined.
• Deaths in pickups and utility vehicles have more than doubled since 1975.

CRASH TYPES

• Forty percent of car occupant deaths in 1998 occurred in single-vehicle crashes, 60 percent in multiple-vehicle crashes. In contrast, percentages for pickups and utility vehicles combined were 59 and 41 percent.
• Frontal impacts accounted for 50 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in 1998. Side impacts accounted for 30 percent (14 percent right side, 16 percent left).
• Crashes in which a vehicle rolled over accounted for 31 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in 1998 (54 percent of single-vehicle crash deaths and 11 percent of multiple-vehicle crash deaths).

AGE AND GENDER

• The motor vehicle death rate per 100,000 people is especially high among 16-24 year-olds and people 80 years and older.
• At all ages, males have much higher motor vehicle death rates per 100,000 people compared with females. The difference is least among people younger than 13 and greatest among people 85 years and older. The highest motor vehicle death rate is among males 80 years and older, followed closely by males age 16-24.

TABLES