No Traffic Deaths Today Is Goal Of Safety Professionals

The second annual Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day got under way today, with the American Trucking Assns. (ATA) renewing its call for a nationwide crackdown on speeding cars and trucks.

"Speeding is, by everyone?s account, one of the most prevalent contributing factors in traffic crashes on our nation?s highways," said William Canary, ATA president and CEO. "Knowing this, why wouldn?t we want to slow everyone down on our highways? It?s simple: safe speeds save lives."
Canary said that in nearly 30% of all fatal crashes in 2000, drivers were either exceeding posted speed limits or driving too fast for conditions. These types of speed-related crashes accounted for over 12,000 of the nearly 42,000 lives lost. "This human cost should be unacceptable to all of us," he said.
Put the Brakes on Fatalities Day is a project of national highway safety and transportation industry safety professionals. The goal is to achieve one full day of zero traffic deaths in the U.S. by dramatizing the major causes of traffic fatalities and educating motorists on their avoidance. Normally, motor vehicle crashes cause an average of 114 fatalities a day. October was selected for the observance because it is among the peak months for traffic fatalities, as evidenced by a deadly toll of 207 lives on October 9, 1999.
Canary said that while current federal highway safety funding does an important job of encouraging occupant protection devices and reducing impaired driving, "the trucking industry is concerned that strong, visible speed enforcement for cars and trucks may not be getting the focus and attention it deserves."
Additionally, he said, the federal truck and bus safety inspection program is not putting enough emphasis on traffic safety efforts, particularly strong speed enforcement.
"More must be done to address the toll exacted by speeding drivers," said Canary. "Right here and right now, the American Trucking Associations, our member motor carriers, and their professional truck drivers again go on the record--and call for the strong, strict and visible enforcement of existing speeding laws as a measure to help reduce the human and financial costs associated with speed-related accidents."