Health news, tips and features: Healia Health Blog

July 16th, 2008

High Gas Prices Saving Lives, Less Car Accidents

Health News posted 4 years ago by The Healia Team

A recent study found that people are driving less as a result of high gas prices and that this may result in a third fewer car-related deaths annually (about 1,000 less deaths each month). The reduction may be most dramatic among teenage drivers.

The stduy by researchers at Harvard Medical School and the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that, “For every 10 percent increase in gas prices there was a 2.3 percent decline in auto deaths. For drivers ages 15 to 17, the decline was 6 percent, and for ages 18 to 21, it was 3.2 percent”.

The study was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the researchers' findings were presented at the American Society of Health Economists meeting last month.

According to the Department of Transportation, Americans drove abput 1.4 billion fewer highway miles in April. This represents six consecutive months where the number of miles driven has dropped in the United States.