ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100108
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: The New York Times
Deaths involving drunken drivers jumped 8 percent last year for the first increase in a decade, as overall traffic fatalities continued their three-year rise, the National Safety Council said Wednesday.
And safety officials warned that higher speed limits are likely to lead to more highway deaths.
The Safety Council said alcohol-related traffic fatalities rose to 17,274 in 1995, from 16,589 the year before. ``We are seeing, for the first time, a remarkable reversal of the progress since the 1980s,'' said Jerry Scannell, the council's president. Alcohol-related highway deaths in 1986 were 24,045.
Over all, deaths in motor vehicles rose 2.8 percent in 1995 to 43,900. Safer cars and better roads had pushed the toll down to 40,982 in 1992, the low point in modern history. The peak was in 1972, when 56,278 people died.
Safety council officials said the 1995 figures were only slightly affected by the end of the 55-mile-an-hour federal speed limit, which took effect in November.
They were not able to give a single explanation for the rise in overall deaths or in drunken driving. Americans have driven more in recent years, but fatalities last year grew faster than miles driven, according to the safety council.
Safety experts pointed primarily to higher speeds, as some states have raised their limits and drivers everywhere have exceeded all limits. They also cited a demographic trend, as the so-called baby boom echo has put more young drivers on the road. They called for tougher enforcement of speed limits and drunken-driving laws and seat-belt laws, as well as for improved auto safety features.
Public Citizen, an advocacy group, called for the federal government to impose new safety requirements. But car companies responded that the key to greater safety was changes in driver behavior.
Safety council officials warned that recent slippage in efforts to combat traffic deaths could be a sign of slackening efforts. Safety efforts are flat, Scannell said. ``In my experience, if you plateau out, and you do nothing, it's going to get worse,'' he said.
A spokeswoman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, in Irving, Texas, Tresa Coe, cited a similar factor in the increase in drunken driving, saying, ``The public has become somewhat complacent.''
``People may have a feeling that drunk driving has been solved.'' But she added, ``If you have more than 17,000 people killed and more than a million others injured, then it's clear that the drunk driving problem is far from solved.''
Introduction of new technology into the nation's motor vehicle fleet - which is now at 204.1 million - has also had an effect, but not entirely for the better. Airbags, for example, cut the fatality rate for adults by about 11 percent in cars that have them, but among children seated in the front seat, they increase it by 28 percent to 33 percent, according to two recent studies.
There are now just 22 million vehicles with passenger-side air bags, but the number will increase by about 13 million a year beginning with the 1997 model year.
Safety council officials would not predict just what results higher speed limits will have, but they said that the risk of fatal injury roughly doubles for each 10 miles an hour of additional speed over 50.
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB