Motor Vehicle-Related Injuries – Press Room

(Posted 06/15/2012)

Preventing serious injuries and deaths from motorcycle crashes is a major and growing public health concern.

Consider that:

• Motorcycle crashes killed 4,502 people in 2010.
• Motorcycle-related deaths have increased by 55% since 2000.
• Motorcycle crash-related injuries and deaths totaled $12 billion in one year, in medical care costs and productivity losses.

The good news is that riders’—and their passengers’—can protect themselves by wearing helmets. Helmets are estimated to prevent 37 percent of crash deaths among motorcycle riders and 41 percent of crash deaths for motorcycle passengers.

Learn More

• MMWR
• MMWR Summary
• Press Release
• Additonal Information
• Feature

(Posted 10/04/2011)

U.S. adults got behind the wheel after drinking too much about 112 million times in 2010.

Though episodes of drinking and driving have gone down by 30% during the past 5 years, it remains a serious problem. Alcohol-impaired drivers are involved in about 1 in 3 crash deaths, resulting in nearly 11,000 deaths in 2009.

Whenever anyone drives drunk, they put everyone on the road in danger. Choose not to drink and drive and help others do the same.

The October edition of CDC Vital Signs discusses drinking and driving and the proven measures that can help.

Learn More

• CDC Vital Signs: Drinking and Driving
• Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
• CDC Feature Article — Drinking and Driving: A Threat to Everyone
• Policy Impact: Alcohol-impaired Driving
• Impaired Driving
• Motor Vehicle Safety

(Posted 05/11/2011)

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2011 to 2020 as the Decade of Action for Road Safety. CDC is excited to be part of this effort to enhance focus on protecting people on the road. As a first step, CDC is releasing fact sheets showing the tremendous cost burden of deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the United States, and highlighting strategies to prevent these deaths.

Over 30,000 people are killed in crashes each year in the United States. In 2005, in addition to the toll on victims’ family and friends, crash deaths resulted in $41 billion in medical and work loss costs.

CDC’s new analysis found that only 10 states shoulder half of all the costs of crash deaths. Individual state fact sheets with state-specific cost information are now available.

The ten states with the highest medical and work loss costs were California ($4.16 billion), Texas ($3.50 billion), Florida ($3.16 billion), Georgia ($1.55 billion), Pennsylvania ($1.52 billion), North Carolina ($1.50 billion), New York ($1.33 billion), Illinois ($1.32 billion), Ohio ($1.23 billion), and Tennessee ($1.15 billion).

Learn more about your state’s costs and CDC’s recommendations
for safety on the road:

• CDC Press Release: Annual Estimated Cost of U.S. Crash-Related Deaths is $41 Billion
• CDC Feature: Cost of Deaths from Crashes
• CDC Costs of Crash Deaths by State
• CDC Motor Vehicle Safety
• Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020

(Posted 01/04/2011)

Motor vehicle crashes are the number one cause of death for people between the ages of five and 34. Seat belt use is the best way to save lives and reduce injuries in crashes.

This month, a new CDC report shows that seat belt use has increased in the United States (to 85%) as crash-related injuries have decreased.

Protect yourself by wearing your seat belt, and encourage everyone in the car to buckle up, even those in the back seat. Always buckle up your child passengers into the correct safety seat.

Learn More

• Press Release: CDC Study Finds Seat Belt Use Up to 85% Nationally
• MMWR: Vital Signs — Motor Vehicle Occupant Injuries and Seat Belt Use
• Vital Signs: Adult Seat Belt Use
• Policy  Impact: Seat Belts
• Motor Vehicle Safety: Seat Belts
• Motor Vehicle Safety: Child Passengers

(Posted 10/17/2010)

Learning to drive is often considered a rite of passage for teenagers. But with the reward of being a new driver comes real risk. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the United States, taking the lives of eight teens a day. CDC’s Injury Center is committed to preventing these crashes.

CDC recently released a new study, a communications campaign for parents of teen drivers, and an at-a-glance policy issue brief to focus attention on teen driver safety and the proven steps that can help save young drivers’ lives.

Learn More

• Parents Are the Key: A CDC Campaign
• Press Release
• CDC Matte Article [pdf 176K]
• MMWR: Drivers Aged 16 or 17 Years Involved in Fatal Crashes — United States, 2004-2008
• Policy  Impact: Safe Teen Driving
• Teen Drivers: More CDC Resources