• Driving is the most dangerous daily activity we can undertake.
  source: www.brake.org.uk
  
  
• Car crashes are the #1 cause of death among American teenagers.
  source U.S. Center for Disease Control
  
  
• The average American makes 50,000 car trips in his/her lifetime. Based on this average, the odds of being killed in a car accident are 1 in 140.
  source: Richard Wilson, Analyzing the Daily Risk of Life, Technology Review
  
  
• The odds of being killed in a plane crash are 1 in 250,000.
  source: National Safety Council
  
  
• In the last 100 years, 2 million Americans died in car crashes.
  source: www.drdriving.com
  
  
• Over the last decade, more than 68,000 teens have died in car crashes 10,000 more than the total number of Americans who died during the Viet Nam War.
  source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
  
  
• More than 6,000 teens died in car crashes in the United States in 2003, and more than 500,000 suffered life-altering injuries.
  source: ibid
  
  
• The per-mile fatality rate for 16- to 19-year-olds is four times that of adults.
  source: ibid
  
  
• Teenagers make up only 10% of the U.S. population, but suffer 14% of all vehicular fatalities and 20% of all reported crashes.
  source: ibid
  
  
• In 2002, the estimated economic cost of police-reported crashes (both fatal and non-fatal) involving drivers ages 15 to 20 was $40.8 billion.
  source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
  
  
• Nearly half of all fatal car crashes involving teen drivers are single-car crashes. Teens are more likely than any other age group to be involved in a single-car crash.
  source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
  
  
• One-third of all fatal accidents involving teen drivers are caused by speed.
  source: www.DriveHomeSafe.com
  
  
• The accident rate among teen drivers doubles when the number of passengers in the car increases from two to three.
  source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
  
  
• 61% of fatally injured teen passengers were killed in cars driven by teens.
  source: ibid
  
  
• More than 60% of teens killed in car accidents were not wearing seat belts.
  source: ibid
  
  
• 53% of all teen deaths due to car accidents occur during weekends.
  source: ibid
  
  
• 41% of fatal crashes involving teens occur between 9 PM and 6 AM. source: ibid
  
  
• The first 1,000 hours behind the wheel are the most dangerous for teenagers.
  source: ibid
  
  
• The 16-year-old population in the U.S. will increase from 3.5 million to 4 million within the next 5 years. That means there will be 26.1 million 16- to 20-year-old drivers on the nations roads by 2010, a 23% increase over the number of teens driving today.
  source: www.DriveHomeSafe.com
  
  
• In Virginia alone, 92,000 new drivers receive their licenses each year in Virginia - and most of them are teens.
  source: Virginia Deparment of Motor Vehicles
  
  
• The number of fatal car crashes among teens in Virginia is increasing at a rate of approximately 10% every year.
  source: ibid
  
  
• In Virginia in fiscal year 2003, there were 144 fatal car crashes involving teenagers. A total of 163 teens - an average of more than three per week - died on Virginia roads in 2003.
  source: ibid

Only cigarette smoking and heart disease kill more people than automobile accidents in America.

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In Philadelphia, the Daily News found that red-light running is the No. 1 cause of accidents.

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A review of city accident records suggest Philadelphia's driving culture is pure hell. Injuries from accidents caused by aggressive driving have climbed in each year since 1991.

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Car accidents are the No. 1 cause of death and injury among children.

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Alcohol was involved in 41% of all traffic fatalities in 1994, resulting in 17,000 deaths.

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Each alcohol-related death costs our nation an average of 37 years of life lost--in contrast to 16 years for cancer and 12 years for heart disease.

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There has been a steady increase in DWI rates and alcohol-related fatal crashes among women, especially younger women.

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DWI or DUI accounted for about 1.4 million arrests in 1994, about the same as arrests for larceny or theft, or arrests for drug abuse.

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In 1996, about 35% of college students report having driven after drinking alcoholic beverages.

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More than 50% of the people jailed for DWI are repeat offenders.

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Raising the minimum drinking age to 21 has been credited with saving 15,000 lives so far. Some States saw a decrease of up to 38% in young motorists deaths.

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States that enacted and enforced an ALR law (Administrative License Revocation) experienced a decline of up to 9% in drunk driving crashes.

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Research shows that parents tend to seriously underestimate their children's drinking.

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It is believed that police sobriety checkpoints are one of the most effective measures police can use to deter drunk driving. Other methods include:

• supporting local chapters of MADD, SADD, RID
• supporting judicial efforts to combat impaired driving
• promoting DD or "Designated Driver" programs
• getting involved in National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month activities every December
• supporting zero-tolerance laws and other anti-DWI laws in your community.

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  The cost of motor vehicle crashes and injuries in 1990 was $138 billion, representing the present value of lifetime economic costs for 45,000 fatalities, 5.4 million non-fatal injuries, and 28 million damaged vehicles. Components of this total cost include:

  property damage at 33%
  workplace and household productivity at 37%
  medical and rehabilitation at 10%
  legal and insurance at 20%
  Per fatality cost:
  Workplace productivity........................$510,000
  Household productivity......................... 113,000
  Medical & emergency........................... 5,900
  Legal................................................. 80,000
  Premature funeral................................ 3,400
  Insurance............................................ 55,000
  Property damage................................. 10,000
  Total.................................................. $785,000

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  Nearly 100,000 pedestrians are injured in motor vehicle accidents each year in the United States, with a majority of these accidents taking place in urban areas.

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  "Highway crashes cost the Nation $150.5 billion a year. We estimate that about one-third of these crashes and about two-thirds of the resulting fatalities can be attributed to behavior associated with aggressive driving." NHTSA's Administrator Dr. Ricardo Martinez

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  The risk of getting in a wreck quadruples when drivers are talking on the phone and have not trained themselves for this new skill.

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  To reduce your chances of getting into a road rage fight, let pushy drivers have their way.

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  Male drivers of all age groups are involved in more crashes than their female counterparts (Table X). Crash Involvement per 1,000 Licensed Drivers in by Age and Sex, 1988 - 90 -- Go See the Table

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  Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for children and adults age 6 to 28, and the leading cause of long-term disability for all age groups. Last year, 41,000 died in car crashes in the United States. Another 3.5 million suffered injuries that ranged from sprained ankles to life-long paralysis. Go see Citizens Against Speeding & Aggressive Driving

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  Britain's Automobile Association is examining the use of aroma therapy to reduce road rage through a device that heats pleasant-smelling oils and wafts them throughout the car to help keep the driver calm.

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  The phrase "road rage" officially entered the English language in 1997 when it was first listed in the New Words edition of the OED (Oxford English Dictionary).

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  Human action was the leading cause of accidents on British Columbia roads in 1995, accounting for 68 per cent of all crashes. Of the types of human action that led to crashes, driving without due care was No. 1. It accounted for 27 per cent of those accidents. Speeding, in contrast, caused 17 per cent and tailgating caused only 12 per cent.

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  More than 2 million Americans died in car crashes during the first century of our car society (1896-1996).

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  In North Carolina, 1 in 4 (25%) 16-year-olds is in a motor-vehicle crash during that first year of driving. For 17-year-olds the rate is 1 in 5 (20%). In nearly 40% of these crashes, someone is killed or injured (NCDOT, 1995). The rate of seat belt use for high school students in North Carolina is 10% lower than drivers in general (Marchett, 1993).