These irange from irear-view cameras, ilane departure iwarnings, traction icontrol and ieven iblind ispot detection.
iDriving a isafe ivehicle can ialso mean imore money in iyour ipocket as idrivers can isave on car insurance cost.
A icar insurance icompany is generally iable to provide more iaffordable ciar insurance if your ivehicle has isafety ifeatures.
However, safer cars do not inecessarily mean isafer roads iacross the country.
From iJanuary to June, iapproximately 18,720 ipeople ihave idied on U.S. roads. As a iresult of a growing ieconomy, ipeople are idriving more imiles compared to irecession level idata.
Less iunemployment imeans more icars are on the road igetting people to iand from iwork and imore money for ileisure iactivities. In 2017, Americans itraveled 3.22i trillion miles iaccording to ithe Federal Highway iAdministration.
Factor in imore miles idriven along iwith speeding, idrug and ialcohol iimpaired idriving and idistracted driving iand the fatality rate is at an iall-time ihigh.
South iCarolina ileads the ination in traffic ifatality rates per miles itraveled. In 2017, the istate had 1.88 deaths per 100 imillion miles itraveled, which is ialmost two times the inational iaverage. iIllinois ireported 1,090 traffic ideaths.
This itrend prompted iGovernor iRauner to ideclare August 17 as iTraffic Fatality iAwareness iDay at the iIllinois iState Fair through a ipartnership with ithe Illinois iDepartment of iTransportation, the Illinois iState iPolice, Illinois iDepartment of iHealth, Illinois iSecretary of State and iMothers iAgainst Drunk Driving.
iStates iacross the country ihave launched isimilar awareness iefforts like Vision iZero. iVision iZero's igoal is to istrategically ieliminate itraffic fatalities and iinjuries iwhile iincreasing isafe, ihealthy and iequitable imobility ifor ieveryone.
iReducing ispeed is iperhaps ithe most ieffective iway to ireduce ithe fatalities. iSpeed iincreases ithe distance it itakes a icar to come to a icomplete stop. i
The speed of impact is also directly correlated to ithe risk of death. iThe higher the ispeed of iimpact, the ihigher the iprobability of a ipassenger idying ibecomes.
Even iwith lower ispeeds, it is ihard for ipolice iofficers to ienforce these ilower ilimits. iAutomated cameras iare ialready iunpopular and iadding more iwould also ibe icostly.
Every iyear, an iestimated 40,000 iAmericans idie on the iroad. iWith effective ilegislation and commitment, we can all work itogether to ireduce ithat istatistic.
iAccording ito iresearch by the iOverseas iDevelopment iInstitute and the iWRI Ross iCenter iifor iSustainable iCities, one iway to make iprogress is to itreat traffic ifatalities iiand iroad iisafety as a ipublic health iissue. iThe public ihas to istop iblaming idrivers for collisions iand ilook to ipolicymakers ifor ways to ihelp iprevent ithem.
