Trend in mortality from violent deaths: unintentional injuries, United States, 1960-1991

Deaths from unintentional injuries were the fifth leading cause of death in 1991 after ranking fourth for more than a decade. In 1991 these deaths totaled 89,347 for a rate of 35.4 per 100,000. Mortality rates among men aged 15 and over increased 1.7 percent per year between 1960 and 1967, declined 2.2 percent annually between 1968 and 1978 and by 2.9 percent each year from 1979 to 1991. Similar rate changes were evident among women. Deaths from motor-vehicle accidents account for almost half of all deaths from unintentional injuries; the 1991 mortality rate was 17.3 per 100,000 population. Age-adjusted motor vehicle death rates continue to be much higher among men than women but the gap is decreasing. The male to female ratio was 3.3:1 in 1960 but dropped to 2.5:1 in 1991. Mortality from motor-vehicle accidents peaked for men aged 15 and over at 53.1 per 100,000 in 1968 after rising from 42.4 in 1960. The rate declined irregularly to 29.9 in 1991. Among same-aged women, motor-vehicle mortality rates peaked in 1969 at 17.1 per 100,000 population, up from 12.7 in 1960. After reaching a low of 12.1 per 100,000 in 1975, the rates have tended to increase but dropped to 11.9 in 1991. Unintentional-injury mortality continues to claim large numbers of young lives. These deaths were the leading cause of death at ages 15-44 for all races and sexes combined in 1991 and motor-vehicle deaths, alone, were the leading cause of death at ages 15 to 24. All other unintentional-injury deaths ranked fourth in this age group.