With the numbers out on Massachusetts driving fatalities published by the US Transportation Department, we note that there were 334 total fatalities in Massachusetts in 2009, 30 lower than 2008. There was an 8.2% decline between 2008 and 2009 in alcohol impaired driving fatalities. There were still too many deaths on Massachusetts highways and on US highways: 33,808 in 2009, down 9.7% from 2008, when there were 37,423 deaths on highways.
The DOT statistics also show that there were 2,217,000 people injured in 2009, down 5.5% from 2,346,000 in 2008. The largest decrease was in the large truck injury statistics, which declined 26%. The second largest decline was in the motor vehicle striking pedestrian category, which declined 14%. The smallest decline was in light truck accidents causing injury, which declined only 1.2%.
Other good data showed that there were fewer people injured per miles traveled. This statistic seems to be declining relatively steadily since 1988. For example, in 2009, there were 10% fewer fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles traveled than in 2008. The decline in injuries for that number of miles traveled was 6.3%.