From a cyclist standpoint there is no good news in the report that traffic fatalities have dropped to their lowest point since 1949, because, as we all know cyclist deaths are up, according a story in The Dallas Morning News.
Bicyclist deaths jumped 8.7 percent and deaths of occupants of large trucks increased 20 percent, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in an analysis of 2011 traffic deaths. . . Overall traffic fatalities dropped 1.9 percent, to 32,367. The decline came as the number of miles driven by motorists dropped by 1.2 percent. . . The increase in bicycle deaths probably reflects more people riding bicycles to work and for pleasure, said Jonathan Adkins, deputy executive director of the Governors Highway Safety Association, which represents state highway safety agencies.
We need two things: cyclist need ride safe and drivers who hit cyclists need to get more than a ticket.
[Link: Dallas Morning News]
