Many studies have shown that driving is impaired at lower blood alcohol concentration levels than 0.08. Our drunk driving laws are also too lenient compared to peer nations and compared to WHO recommendations. That means our non-compliance rate is double that of Canada. In Canada, the seat belt wearing rate is 95 percent. The U.S.’s seat-belt-wearing rate has improved to 90 percent. Seat belts decrease injury and death risk by 50 percent in the front seat and 25 percent in the back seat, according to the U.N. law does not require seatbelt use in the back seat, unlike the overwhelming majority of the world. Previous studies have revealed how much more driving Americans do, with roughly 8,800 kilometers per capita, versus 4,300 in Canada, 7,000 in Germany and less than 1,700 in Japan.īut the World Health Organization’s international comparisons show the United State’s safety policies are seriously out of line with the rest of the developed world. Traffic deaths are now the leading cause of death globally for those between the ages of 5 and 29. The global report from the World Health Organization - which reviewed laws and crashes in 175 nations - explains that U.S.’s traffic fatality rate is 12.4 deaths per 100,000 - or about 50 percent higher than similar nations in Western Europe, plus Canada, Australia and Japan.Ībout 1.3 million people are being killed globally by traffic crashes every year, a huge proportion of them pedestrians. trails the developed world on traffic safety: we drive too much and our laws are too permissive of deadly behavior. A new report on global traffic deaths illustrates exactly why the U.S.

Drunk drivers killed in america