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In Part One of this blog post series, I tried to make the case that speeding, driving, and parked cars could be the reason your house might burn down or emergency responders might come too late to save your life. In this part, I would like to follow up with a few numbers and look at solutions.
Why are Speeding Cars so Bad for Emergency Response Times?
“U Drive. U Text. U Pay.” [Old 2023 NHTSA campaign slogan]
“Put the Phone Away or Pay.” [New 2024 NHTSA campaign slogan]
Ninety percent of all vehicle collisions are caused by human error … some would argue it’s even more. Almost all of these crashes come from a combination of speeding, drunk and distracted driving. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) must have thought this was the fault for having an old slogan. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) made clear that ‘Education’ without ‘Enforcement’ does not work with the adult population. So, no matter how great, any slogan is just an expensive waste of time. These slogans are as useless as “Share The Road” signs – who wants to share anything with drivers like this – and I’m talking about the guy behind the camera.
Without tougher speed limits and enforcement, no new slogan will bring about change. Only better engineering can. Anyways, just a few numbers to warm us up:
- Vehicles drove over 2.2 billion miles. [NHTSA 2022]
- There are an estimated 12.15 million vehicles involved in crashes every year. [Statista]
- Police-reported traffic crashes average around 6 million per year. [NHTSA 2022]
- There are an estimated 2.38 million injuries on US roadways. [NHTSA 2022]
- Vehicle crashes caused over 42,000 fatalities. [NHTSA 2022]
- US has 283,400,986 registered vehicles [Consumer Affairs – 2022]
- Over 31 million registered cars in California.
- But ca. 4.7 million uninsured drivers
- 278,870,463 private and commercial vehicles – 4,530,523 publicly owned [2022]
- In 2022, the U.S. auto industry sold 2.86 million cars
- 243.3 million licensed drivers [2023]
- The U.S. has 0.89 vehicles per capita, second only to New Zealand’s 0.9. [2023]
- 91.7% of U.S. households had at least one automobile. [2023]
- over 21% own three or more vehicles. [2023]
- 45% of U.S. auto sales are Crossover SUVs – Honda CR-V, Toyota Rav-4, and the Nissan Rogue.
The average response time is usually determined by a formula similar to (Intake Time + Queue Time + Travel Time). That is the time it takes for your 911 call to wait in line, get to a person, explain the situation, determine which first responders to send, and finally arrive. And each collision statistic could harm your chance of getting help in time. Let’s say your house has caught fire simultaneously when emergency responders are en route to a multi-car crash on Woodside Road or El Camino Real. Or your loved one has a heart attack while a speeding Hummer BEV crashes into a fuel truck downtown. The lines would be occupied, the operators all busy, all fire trucks somewhere else, and no ambulance available in good time.
Insurance Cost – SB-1107
All these crashes could be devastating for all those people involved. All these crashes could be devastating for all people needing help at the same time. But all these numbers are also attacking every car owner’s purse. The average new car in California now costs over $50,000, the average used car around $30,000, and the yearly cost of driving exceeds $12,000 (source: AAA). This means all these crashes are becoming more and more expensive as well. That is where the Protect California Drivers Act or SB-1107 (2021) is coming in. Since 1967, it’s the first time California has adjusted minimum auto liability limits. The new minimums are now $60,000 per occurrence of bodily injury and $15,000 for property damage. Since these numbers still sound low, lawmakers will unlikely wait another 55 years for adjustments like this.
“Vehicle repair costs, medical care, and litigation expenses have all surged. Add inflation and ongoing supply chain challenges to the mix, and the financial landscape for accident claims has drastically shifted. Auto insurance claims and expenses spiked to more than $1.12 for every $1 in premium in 2022.” [Insurance Journal]
Despite the friendly name of the ‘Protect California Drivers Act,’ the bill authorized rate increases of 30% and more by various insurance companies. Others are threatening to leave certain states with a lot of hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, etc., and that won’t be good for pricing.
The average yearly insurance cost is now moving towards $2,600 for full coverage, which in many areas might be higher than homeowner insurance.
Swedish vs US Vision Zero
There are an estimated 2.38 million injuries on US roadways. That is a considerable cost factor in health care, repair or replacement costs, leading to higher insurance premiums. Vehicles in California are still getting bigger, heavier, faster and therefore more destructive. The Swedish version of Vision Zero is great for everyone – the US version of Vision Zero is all about preserving the status quo.
The US Vision Zero Network officially favors vulnerable road users. Still, it then allows “Sharing the Road” for people on bicycles or “Hawk Signals” for pedestrians, all while taking money from the automobility industry (GM, Uber, Zoox, Waymo, Cruise, Lyft, Fehr & Peers). And if you are a regular reader, you might already know that “Sharing the Road” and “Hawk Signal” projects don’t work. Whoever is suggesting those has to be considered highly suspect. You might also have heard from me how Nonprofits like the Vision Zero Network are used for Astroturfing efforts.
The Swedish version, however, is not just about the most vulnerable road users. It’s really about reducing all collisions. That is highly beneficial to all of society since it helps to keep down excessive speeds, reckless driving, expensive collisions, injuries and fatalities, the cost of driving, the cost of insurance, the cost of the health care system and, of course, the cost of first responders.
Great emergency response times must be a goal for all our cities and counties. We do not want to repeat in San Mateo County what we have seen in Sonoma, Napa, Paradise or Pacific Palisades.
The number of injuries and fatalities is not coming down without a philosophical and educational change in leadership. The U.S. Department of Transportation (is that still around?) developed a national version of “Vision Zero” called the National Roadway Safety Strategy (NRSS) and distributed it to local jurisdictions.
“Imagine a world where no one dies on our roadways. In 2023, 40990 people lost their lives on roadways across the nation. That number of people could fill the average professional baseball stadium.” [U.S. DOT]
The National Organization has done its part to develop a basic framework and the marketing campaign that comes with it. But it’s the job of regional and local jurisdictions to turn that into action – and with every single project. Caltrans, MTC, SMCTA, C/CAG, [your city], all need to incentivize reducing speed, narrowing lanes, separating modes, replacing vehicle miles traveled through mode-switch, creating safer intersections. So far, we are seeing hardly any progress.
More Information
- NHTSA: Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS)
- NHTSA: National Crashstats 2022
- Why your Car Insurance rates are going up
- LegInfo: Protect California Drivers Act
- RWCPulse: … more about the “Hawk Signal”
- RWCPulse: … more about “Sharing The Road”
- RWCPulse: … all the things drivers do wrong
Editor’s Note: The views and opinions expressed in all blog posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Redwood City Pulse or its staff.
Thank you for this. It seems we all think getting where ‘we’ are going is far more important that what anyone else is doing. I have thought for a long time that all emergency vehicles should have cameras so that people who do not pull over and get the heck out of the way, could be HEAVILY fined and face some kind of schooling in the rules of the road and of humanity to their fellow drivers!