Single-vehicles account for 60 percent of area's highway deaths

WASHINGTON - Nearly 60 percent of people who died in 2008 traffic crashes in Maryland, Virginia and D.C. died in single-vehicle crashes, according to an analysis by AAA Mid-Atlantic.

"Distracted driving has to be the unseen culprit here. There are too many accidents where people run off the side of the roads," says John B. Townsend II, spokesman for AAA.

AAA says of the 1,449 people who died in 2008, 860 were in single-vehicle crashes.

Single-vehicle crashes accounted for nearly 64 percent of the traffic fatalities in Virginia and 62 percent of the fatalities in the District.

AAA analyzed data from the National Center for Statistics and Analysis at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

In the five-year period from 2004 to 2008, 7,945 persons lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes in Virginia, Maryland and the D.C. AAA says of that number, 4,681 people - 58.9 percent - were killed in single-vehicle crashes.

"In addition to operator error and unforgiving roads, certain risk factors - such as driving at an excessive rate of speed, driving at night, driving on weekends, driving under the influence, and having a track record of prior traffic convictions and crashes - are the leading common denominators in single-vehicle crashes on area roads so far in 2009," Townsend says.

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