In last week’s post, we reported how the Provincial authorities claim the roads have been made safer through the one-year-old street-racing legislation. But critics say this is only one of many factors affecting the lower incidence of traffic fatalities. High gas prices are a likely suspect, and one American study seems to verify this idea.

The Transportation Research Institute at the University of Michigan reported recent results from their study, which covers 12 month ending in April, and found that as gas prices rose, driving and fatalities declined. They predict that if the same pattern continues for the rest of the year, Americans will be driving on roads that haven’t been this safe since Kennedy moved into the White House.

From the wheels section of The Star:

Sivak, who used data from the National Safety Council, National Center for Health Statistics and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration…predicts that highway deaths this year will drop below 37,000 for the first time since 1961 if the March and April trends continue. The government motor vehicle death count for 1961 totaled 36,285. The number of highway deaths peaked in 1972 at 55,600, then generally declined over the next two decades. For the past several years, the number has hovered above 42,000 a year.

NHTSA reported last week that motor vehicle deaths in the United States totaled 41,059 last year, the lowest level in more than a decade. And the Federal Highway Administration said Americans drove 12.2 billion fewer miles in June than a year earlier, the biggest monthly decrease in a downward trend that began in November.

Here’s what motor vehicular fatality trend experts say what’s happening:

• Drivers are reducing nonessential driving, at night and on weekends, which is not as safe as commuting in daytime and slowly in congested roads.
• Teenage and elderly drivers, who do not have disposable income, most likely are choosing more affordable travelling options.
• Rural routes, which have higher accident rates than urban highways, have seen traffic declines.
• Drivers are simply slowing down for the sake of fuel economy.

While this is an American study, we Canadian neighbours share similar economics with the States and it is no great leap to assume what affects them also affects us.

Interestingly, in another Star article, Stats Canada reported in July that deaths caused by motor vehicle accidents have fallen by 52% between 1979 and 2004. Apparently, the report suggested that this decrease was due to a hodgepodge of reasons, such as improvements in car safety features and the crackdown on drunk driving and speeding.

So this information begs the questions: Just how much has Ontario’s speed-racing law contributed to making our roads safe?