AJPH: Traffic Deaths and Fuel Use-Are Car Characteristics Relevant?

In the Letter section of the April issue of the American Journal of Public Health, Leonard Evans, author of Traffic Safety, 2006, questions the relevance of vehicle characteristics in Leon Robertson's study, Blood and oil: vehicle characteristics in relation to fatality risk and fuel economy. (AJPH. 2006;96:1906-1909) Evans states that "the relative unimportance of vehicles to safety is revealed by comparing fatality time trends in different countries." Australia, Britain and Canada have reduced fatalities by an average of 49% from 1979-2002 as compared to 16% in the US. Evans claims that it is not vehicle characteristics, but US policy, that is important in reducing traffic deaths and conserving fuel use. If the United States government adopts a stronger policy on driver behavior (seat belt usage, running red lights, speeding, etc.) and on increasing fuel taxes, driver safety and fuel conservation would increase.

Robertson defends his assertion that vehicle characteristics are relevant and that the data for the United States supports his argument. It is because of the disproportionate sales of overweight vehicles in the United States compared with the other countries, that the United States no longer has the lowest death rate in the world. Robertson responds to Evan's claim (stronger US policy is the way to reduce traffic deaths) by saying, "continuous monitoring of tens of millions of drivers on the road at any one time is hardly feasible."

What do you as an injury professional, think about this debate? Do car characteristics (size, type, etc) have a significant impact on traffic deaths and fuel use? Are stronger public policies the way to reduce fatalities and fuel consumption?

Let us know what you think by posting on the blog or e-mailing us at injprevnetwork@sfdph.org

Click here to read the full letters. (Must have a subscription to AJPH)