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Driving in 2021 Was 225 Percent Safer than in 1970

Blog Post | Motor Vehicles

Driving in 2021 Was 225 Percent Safer than in 1970

Deaths per traffic mile have decreased by 69.3 percent while miles per gallon increased by 95.4 percent.

Gale L. Pooley —

Summary: Over the span of five decades, advancements in vehicle safety technology have contributed to substantial improvements in traffic safety. Meanwhile, significant enhancements in fuel efficiency have been achieved. If you define travel abundance as a combination of these two factors, then abundance has increased by 596 percent.

Between 1970 and 2021, the rate of traffic deaths for every 100 million miles driven decreased by 69.3 percent, from 4.88 to 1.50, according to the National Safety Council.

Vehicle miles driven increased 179.8 percent from 1.12 billion miles in 1970 to 3.13 billion in 2021. During this same period, the number of deaths decreased by 14 percent from 54,633 to 46,980.

This graph shows an increase in miles driven over time with the death rate per mile decreasing.

If traffic safety hadn’t improved since 1970, there would have been 152,842 traffic deaths in 2021 instead of 46,980. Adjusted for miles driven, for every traffic death in 2021, there were 3.25 in 1970 (4.88 ÷ 1.5 = 3.25).

The opposite of the death rate would be the life safety rate. If we index traffic safety at a value of 1 in 1970, the rate would be 3.25 in 2021. Measured from this perspective, 2021 was 225 percent safer than 1970. Vehicle safety has been increasing at a compound annual rate of 2.34 percent, doubling every 30 years.

The graphs show that, despite the increase in the number of vehicles, both the total number of vehicle deaths and the death rate relative to the population have decreased.

Cars and drivers are both getting safer by getting smarter. Cars today have three-point seat belts, air bags, stability control, backup cameras, blind spot detection, anti-lock brakes, radial belted tires, headrests, tire pressure monitoring, automatic emergency braking, lane departure warning, adaptive headlights, adaptive cruise control, and anchors for child seats.

We also get much better mileage. The full-size Ford Galaxie took the number-one spot in sales for 1970. It got 13 to 16 miles per gallon. Today’s bestseller is the Honda CRV, which gets 28 to 34 miles per gallon. Gas mileage has increased by 114 percent while safety has improved by 225 percent. If you define travel abundance as a combination of these two factors, then abundance has increased by 596 percent.

The figure shows that travel abundance and the life safety factor are much higher in 2023 than 1970.

This article was published at Gale Winds on 4/24/2024.

CNBC | Motor Vehicles

Tesla’s First Driverless Delivery of a New Car to a Customer

“Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the automaker completed its first driverless delivery of a new car to a customer, routing a Model Y SUV from the company’s Austin, Texas, Gigafactory to an apartment building in the area on June 27.

The Tesla account on social network X, which is also owned by Musk, shared a video overnight showing the Model Y traversing public roads in Austin, including highways, with no human in the driver’s seat or front passenger seat of the car.”

From CNBC.

Reuters | Motor Vehicles

Tesla Rolls Out Robotaxis in Texas Test

“Tesla deployed a small group of self-driving taxis picking up paying passengers on Sunday in Austin, Texas, with CEO Elon Musk announcing the ‘robotaxi launch’ and social-media influencers posting videos of their first rides.

The event marked the first time Tesla cars without human drivers have carried paying riders, a business that Musk sees as crucial to the electric car maker’s financial future.”

From Reuters.

Associated Press | Motor Vehicles

Amazon Hopes to Deliver 10,000 Robotaxis Annually

“Amazon is gearing up to make as many as 10,000 robotaxis annually at a sprawling plant near Silicon Valley as it prepares to challenge self-driving cab leader Waymo…

The 220,000-square-foot (20,440-square-meter) robotaxi factory announced Wednesday heralds a new phase in Amazon’s push into a technological frontier that began taking shape in 2009, when Waymo was launched as a secret project within Google.

Amazon began eyeing the market five years ago when it shelled out $1.2 billion for self-driving startup Zoox, which will be the brand.”

From Associated Press.

TechCrunch | Motor Vehicles

Waymo Has Set Its Robotaxi Sights on NYC

“Waymo said Wednesday it has applied for a permit to test its autonomous vehicles in New York City, the Alphabet company’s first step in a sticky regulatory process to bring its robotaxis to U.S.’s largest city.

Waymo applied for a permit with the New York City Department of Transportation to operate its self-driving Jaguar I-Pace vehicles with a human safety operator behind the wheel in Manhattan. New York’s autonomous vehicle demonstration or testing permit requires a human driver to be able to take over; a $5 million insurance policy; and every test vehicle operator must be adequately trained in the safe operation of the test vehicle. 

New York law is especially prohibitive of autonomous vehicles. While securing a permit would be notable, Waymo is far from being able to launch commercial operations in the city — or even test without a human safety operator behind the wheel.”

From TechCrunch.