Even as more new cars are equipped with crash-avoidance systems and advanced safety technology, traffic deaths on U.S. roads are rising at a pace not seen since the 1960s. The number of Americans killed in traffic crashes increased 5.6 percent to 37,461 in 2016, according to figures released Friday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That?s an average of more than 102 people every day.
It?s the second consecutive year that federal safety officials have recorded a spike; combined with an 8.4 percent increase in 2015, fatalities have climbed at their fastest pace since a two-year period from 1962 to 1964, a stretch that helped spur President Lyndon Johnson to promote the creation of the Department of Transportation.
?This is really a call to action that every driver needs to heed, because we?ve reached a point that if we don?t do something, we?re really going to be in trouble,? says Maureen Vogel, spokesperson for the National Safety Council, a nonprofit that, among other things, educates drivers on the abundance of new technology entering their cars. ?You can?t lose almost 40,000 on the roads and continue to be complacent.?
?
?The U.S. DOT releases the bad news on a Friday afternoon prior to a three-day public holiday hoping to divert attention from these grim statistics.?
? Jackie Gillan, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety
?

Although it?d be tempting to blame smartphone use for the rise in road deaths, the NHTSA statistics show a 2.2 percent drop i...