VMT and the End of the Auto Age

Highway deaths are down this year, but not because of what our state DOT says.
Our state Dept of Transportation reported that highway deaths are down this year.
And then stated that highway safety programs were responsible in large part for the decline in deaths. 

The data and evidence clearly suggests that is not the case. Instead, people are driving fewer miles per driver.  VMT is Vehicle Miles Travelled.  VMT has decreased 7 months in a row (this data is national)

And even though VMT in Wisc. grew by 3% from 2000-2010, the population of Wisconsin grew by 6%, meaning once again that people drove fewer miles per person.

You cannot die if you are not driving.  And unfortunately, you can die even if you are driving safely.  Photo: first auto fatality of the year 2011 in Wisc.

Comments

[Moris]

You cannot die if you are not driving. And unfortunately, you can die even if you are driving safely. This is not true! It depends on diffrent circumstances like weather, condition and so on!!!

[D. P. Lubic]

I beg to differ. Speaking for myself, there is no such thing as a "dangerous" road. What's it going to do, jump up and bite you? Nah, it just lies on the ground like a rug! Now, some roads can be more unforgiving of error, but that is something you adjust for.

The same thing goes for weather. Assuming you keep a vehicle in decent shape, including its tires, weather isn't much of a factor, unless you are talking extremes, like tornadoes, floods and the like. If you can walk in it, you can drive in it.

Naturally, both of these statements require that you drive as if you had a working brain.

The real wild card on the road is those other drivers who apparently don't have working brains. They don't "drive" in the sense of being an active pilot of their automobiles, they just "react," oftentimes with barely lively reflexes. I swear, some people, due to distractions, boredom, or whatever, are hardly able to even drive that way! Others think they are great drivers, but instead are selfish speed demons. Just because you can go fast doesn't mean the people around you are going to respect that and NOT do something you don't plan on. That's the wild card, the fact that other drivers are plain unpredictable. Most will drive decently enough, but some others pay no attention to their surroundings, virtually driving while sleeping. That scares me more than anything else, with the possible exception of those other umpredictable creatures called deer.

And you can do absolutely nothing about either the four-legged creature or the two-legged one.

[D. P. Lubic]

Dropping VMT leads to money problems for the road system:

http://www.economist.com/node/21538771