Crash deaths far worse in US than other affluent countries

FILE - This Wednesday, June 11, 2013 file photo shows a minivan and two semitrailers which were involved in an early morning fatal wreck on I-85 South near the exit in Shorter, Ala. According to a Wednesday, July 6, 2016 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traffic deaths are down most everywhere, but fatalities on the road are still a bigger problem in the United States than in other affluent countries. (Lloyd Gallman/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP) FILE - This Wednesday, June 11, 2013 file photo shows a minivan and two semitrailers which were involved in an early morning fatal wreck on I-85 South near the exit in Shorter, Ala. According to a Wednesday, July 6, 2016 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, traffic deaths are down most everywhere, but fatalities on the road are still a bigger problem in the United States than in other affluent countries. (Lloyd Gallman/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

By Associated Press July 6, 2016 3 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – Traffic deaths are down, but a new report shows fatalities on the road are still a bigger problem in the United States than in other affluent countries.

The U.S. had by far the highest fatality rate for car crashes of the nearly 20 countries studied. The U.S. rate in 2013 was more than twice as high as in most of the other countries.

And traffic deaths haven’t been dropping as fast in the U.S. The rate has fallen by nearly a third since 2000. But every other country had a steeper decline.

The statistics probably reflect that Americans tend to drive more miles and for longer periods, said Dr. Guohua Li, of Columbia University’s Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention.

“The more you’re on the road, the more you’re exposed to the potential for a crash,” agreed Erin Sauber-Schatz, lead author of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. The CDC released the report Wednesday.