Traffic deaths down slightly last year

Federal government statistics show a drop in overall and 'per mile' deaths in U.S.


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Traffic deaths in the United States dropped to a record low last year, according to figures released Monday by the Department of Transportation.

In 2006, 42,642 people were killed in traffic accidents, a drop of 868, or roughly 2 percent, from 2005. That amounts to 1.42 people per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, the lowest rate ever recorded, according to the DOT.

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Those figures include 30,251 fatalities in passenger vehicles - a category that includes cars, trucks, SUVs, vans and pickups - which is the lowest annual total since 1993, according to the DOT.

"Tough safety requirements and new technologies are helping to make our vehicles safer and our roads less deadly," DOT secretary Mary Peters said in announcement.

Compared to 2005, injuries in passenger vehicle crashes declined 6.2 percent.

Alcohol-related deaths rose slightly compared to 2005, however, going from 15,102 to 15,121.

Motorcycle fatalities increased by 5.1 percent, marking the ninth consecutive increase for motorcycle deaths.

Drunk-driving enforcement will continue to be a priority for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is part of the DOT, NHTSA administrator Nicole Nason said in an announcement. Top of page

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.