Highway fatalities: leading cause of work-related deaths

Unintentional-injury deaths predominate among the younger ages and consequently rank number one in terms of years of potential life lost before age 65. Motor vehicles are the major way in which unintentional-injury deaths occur each year, and these deaths have been increasing since 1992. Rates rose 4 percent to 16.7 per 100,000 population in 1995 with the deaths totaling 43,900. Of these, 3 percent were classified as work-related and accounted for 1,329 highway deaths in 1995. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 6,210 workplace fatalities in 1995 and 41 percent were related to various means of transportation. Highway travel claims more lives than any other transportation work-related injury (52 percent and its rate and proportion of total workplace fatalities have been trending upward. For the country as a whole, highway injury deaths in 1995 represented 21 percent of the occupational injury mortality. Such deaths accounted for 44 and 37 percent, respectively, of the totals in Maine and Arkansas, but 10 percent or less in Alaska, Oklahoma, and New York City. Home health care workers had a higher rate of disabling highway accidents than the trucking/carrier industry, 76 and 48 per 10,000 workers, respectively. A median of 10 days of missed work was associated with highway injuries in 1995-twice the national figure for workdays lost due to all injuries on the job.