Editorial: Tackling the rising number of vehicle fatalities

Illinois' Transportation Secretary Randy Blankenhorn intends to organize a "safety summit" - preferably this fall - to try to find answers to the disturbing rise in fatal car crashes.

In 2017, 1,098 people died in Illinois wrecks, 20 more than in 2016. In 2015 the number of deaths was under 1,000.

The number of fatalities is "going in the wrong direction," Blankenhorn told attendees this week at the 2018 Illinois Bike Summit.

Most of those deaths were occupants and/or drivers of motor vehicles, but some were bicyclists and pedestrians.

Blankenhorn is right to be concerned about Illinois. And pulling together transportation experts, engineers, community leaders and health experts seems like a good way to begin.

But what is happening in Illinois is also reflected nationally.

According to National Safety Council estimates, more than 40,000 people died on the nation's roads in 2017, about the same number as the 40,327 who died in 2016 - and 6 percent more than 2015.

In some years, the U.S. crash death rate has been more than twice the average of other high-income countries.

And Illinois? As of Tuesday this week, 325 people have died on Illinois roads in 2018, including 46 pedestrians and three bicyclists. We don't have the worst statistics among the 50 states, but we aren't the best, and with a death toll that high, it doesn't really matter where we fall on the bell curve.

Looking at the past, however, gives hope for the future. The Centers for Disease Control considers the U.S. reduction in motor vehicle deaths to be one of the great public health achievements of the last century.

Surely, what could be accomplished in the 20th century can be improved upon in the 21st, and for a while it was - from 2000 to 2013 crash deaths dropped another 31 percent, primarily by enforcing drunken driving laws and seat belt usage.

Now, however, the numbers have turned deadlier again. The reasons why are myriad, with increased vehicle speeds and distracted driving being the two most often cited.

Blankenhorn said he intends to begin by following through on recommendations he got from a task force, which suggests working with the local governments where most of the fatalities are happening.

"We need new partners," he said Monday. "We need fresh thinking."

The great tragedy of car crash deaths and injuries is that in almost every case, they could have been prevented. It will take finding the right combination of innovative engineering and an understanding of human nature to turn fatalities into something rare, instead of commonplace.