AUTO SAFETY

The design of a vehicle, construction and equipment can all contribute to the level of safety in any particular motor vehicle. There have been numerous safety and technological advancements in the past two decades that have been a factor in both lowering the occurrence and, especially, the consequences involved in the aftermath of an automobile collision.

Where vehicle safety has been a primary aim, mostly in developed or first world countries, improvements in auto design and roadway developments have lead to gradually decreased injury and death rates. Nevertheless automobile accidents are the leading cause on injury-related deaths, about 25% of the total of all causes.

Furthermore despite the reduction in injury and death related to advancements in auto design and roadway construction, rising population means more vehicles on the road, which is positively correlated with a higher number of accidents or collisions. In fact, around 40,000 people continue to die every year in traffic collisions.

Automobile safety has been a concern since the production of the first cars. The United States Department of Transportation, in fact, was created with the improvement of automobiles safety as one of its chief purposes. As compared to the rest of the world, however, the United States still maintains one of the highest motor vehicle related fatality numbers in the world. The reasons for this are complex; however the number of drivers and vehicles on the road, as well as the types of vehicles in the United States can explain some of the discrepancy in fatality numbers.

There are a high number of commercial trucks, SUVs, and pickup trucks on the roads and highways in the United States. These types of vehicles, in general, are significantly less safe than normal automobiles due to their size, and therefore lead to a higher number of fatalities and injuries.

Since the 1960s large commercial truck traffic has steadily risen, and highway capacity has not been able to keep up with this increase. As a result, trucking accidents are of a major concern as well, not only in number but because of the catastrophic nature of these kinds of accidents and collisions.

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