Dear Mahatma: I was fascinated by the fatality analysis of last week. Can you briefly tell us the highest and lowest state rates? I find it interesting that California, one of the most urbanized and congested states, has significantly lower fatality rates than the rural expanses of Arkansas. -- Walter
Dear Walter: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offers reams of data. Briefly? We'll try. This data is from 2013.
A total of 32,719 highway fatalities that year occurred in 30,057 motor vehicle crashes. The national fatality rate was 1.11 per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. Arkansas had 483 fatalities and a rate of 1.47. California had 3,000 fatalities and a rate of 0.94.
The highest rate was in Montana, whose 229 deaths gave it a rate of 1.96. Lowest rate was in Massachusetts, whose 326 deaths gave it a rate of 0.59.
For comparison's sake, Arkansas has a population of 3 million; Massachusetts has a population of 6.7 million.
The institute reports that states do daytime observational surveys of the use of seat belts by front-seat passenger vehicle occupants. The U.S. average was 87 percent. The Arkansas average was 77 percent. New Hampshire's 73 percent was the low; Oregon's 98 percent was the high. California's rate was 97 percent.
A comparison of rural versus urban is where data illuminates. A full 74 percent of traffic deaths in Arkansas happened in rural areas. The national average was 54 percent. In Montana, 98 percent. In Rhode Island, 8 percent. In California, 39 percent.
The institute also tells us that many more men die each year in traffic accidents than do women. Every year from 1975 to 2013, the number of crash deaths of males was twice that of deaths of females. In 2013, 23,127 men were killed in traffic accidents, compared with 9,579 women.
What about age cohorts? In passenger-vehicle crashes, men 85 and older had the highest rate of fatalities, followed by men ages 20-24. Lowest fatality rates were for occupants 0-15 of both genders.
Do we want to talk about drinking and driving? Sure we do. From 1982 to 2013, the proportion of fatally injured drivers in passenger vehicles with blood alcohol concentrations at or above 0.08 percent has been substantially higher for men than for women.
In the matter of speeding, we detect a pattern -- from 1982 to 2013 speeding was a contributing factor for a greater proportion of men killed in crashes than women.
Missed it by that much. Last week's column should have said the fatality rate in 1921 was 24.085 deaths per 100 million miles traveled. Instead, the zero was erroneously reported as a nine. A flogging has been scheduled for Wednesday.
Vanity plate seen on a red Dodge Charger, Hemi engine and everything: MOMOJO.
Mahatma@arkansasonline.com
Metro on 07/11/2015