According to the National Safety Council [NSC], the number of people killed in the USA during 2017 in road accidents once again exceeded 40,000, following major increases in such deaths during the years since the end of the financial recession.
A year ago, the NSC estimated that the 2016 death toll was about 3,000 fatalities more than the eventual official figure of 37,461 which was subsequently issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA], however the NSC explain this apparent discrepancy with the fact that ‘the government counts only deaths on public roads, while the council includes parking lots, driveways and private roads.’
In other words, about 3,000 “additional” people — an average of eight per day — are killed each year in vehicular crashes but do not qualify for inclusion in the official statistics, yet this is an additional eight percent and a lot of those killed in such circumstances are children. The fact that these incidents involve deaths on parking lots and private driveways serves to illustrate the true level of dangers in places than many people unthinkingly tend to dismiss as being low-risk locations, but that is clearly not the case.
As always, our ADoNA defensive and advanced safe driving courses include research-based, best-practise methods to help your corporate drivers or chauffeurs stay safe and protect other people in relevant locations.
You can read the full article, from USA Today, regarding the NSC estimate for 2017 road deaths.
A very good point as always from Eddy Wren.
Many thanks for your comment, Richard. It’s much appreciated.
I spent the some time near Houston Texas earlier this year. The company I was visiting had mandatory ‘back-in’ parking. I talked with the safety and security officer at this site and it is part of the orientation process for new employees. The information that was used as part of that orientation is that the most backing out collisions occur at the post office. I have not found any confirmation of that declaration, but I was impressed at this simple measure to ensure employee safety, and I’m sure some of the employees practice this outside of work.
Indeed, it is good that some corporations are starting to take notice!