After a 60-year low in 2011, the number of people dying in motor vehicles is again on the rise. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in the first quarter of this year the number of fatal accidents was 15.5 percent higher than it was the year before. The total of 7,630 deaths over the course of January, February and March of this year is 910 higher than the number that occurred over those same months in 2011.

While it is not entirely clear why the increase has occurred, a spokesman from the NHTSA said an increase in car travel over those winter months may in part be to blame. The increase in the number of vehicles on the road this past winter was most likely due to the temperate weather that made it more conducive to travel via an auto. Most years, the first quarter fatalities are the lowest of the year because ice, snow and cold driving conditions keep many home.

Throughout the nation, great strides have been made to reduce the number deaths due to car accidents. Since the record number of 54,589 deaths in 1972, many different agencies have worked to bring the number down, until last year, with great success. In addition an increased enforcement of laws related to driving, programs designed to alter bad driving behaviors have been implemented in Pennsylvania and throughout the nation.

What do you think about this? Do you believe the trend will continue or is the increase in the first quarter of 2012 just an anomaly?

Source: CNN, "U.S. traffic fatalities soar 13.5 percent in first quarter of 2012," Jim Barnett, July 23, 2012

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