Posted on September 2, 2005

Civil Society

More than 8,000 fatal and 1 million non-fatal injuries occur each year due to crashes on arterial roads in and near U.S. cities. The August 6, 2005, edition of Status Report (8 pages, PDF), a publication of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, focuses on simple, inexpensive ways to reduce urban crashes — fixes that can be implemented faster than major re-engineering projects — such as moving a bus stop down a street to reduce rear-end crashes and adding an arrow to a traffic light to make left turns less risky. The publication also notes that seatbelts saved an estimated 14,570 lives in 2002; airbags have saved about 12,000 lives since 1994; and improvements to locks, latches, and hinges have saved almost 30,000 lives.