State bucks national trend

May 13, 2003

Contact: Anne Readett, Michigan State Police @ (517) 333-5317
Contact: Liz Boyd, Office of the Governor @ (517) 335-6397

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm and the Michigan State Police (MSP) today announced that for the first time since 1945, Michigan has recorded fewer than 1,300 traffic fatalities in a calendar year.

In 2002, traffic fatalities declined to 1,279 from 1,328 in 2001, a drop of almost 4 percent. Further, the number of people killed in alcohol and/or drug related crashes fell significantly to 463 from 504 in 2001, a drop of over 5 percent.

Overall, Michigan reported 395,515 traffic crashes in 2002, 1,175 fatal crashes, and 80,567 injury crashes. The number of people injured increased slightly from 112,292 in 2001 to 112,484 in 2002.

"We believe these positive numbers are the culmination of many things," said Granholm. "We have to give credit to the state’s primary safety belt law. Belt use in Michigan is high, and we’re always working to increase that rate, because we know safety belts save lives. In addition, our repeat offender laws and graduated driver licensing laws are contributing to these positive changes."

The U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently reported that, nationally, traffic fatalities increased in 2002 from 42,116 in 2001 to 42,850 in 2002. Alcohol-related fatalities also increased nationally from 17,448 in 2001 to 17,970 in 2002.

When Michigan had a secondary safety belt law in 1999, there were 1,386 people killed in traffic crashes. Prior to the law change, belt use was at 70 percent in the state. It now stands at 82.9 percent.

Michigan Traffic Crash Three-Year History

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