Accident Statistics

While traffic officials applaud a new law that makes it illegal for drivers to read, write or send text messages, they admit there is little evidence that last year's ban against talking on a hand-held cellphone has actually prevented accidents. Since holding a phone to your ear was made a traffic violation last July, the California Highway Patrol has written about 48,000 tickets, fining drivers from $20 to $50.

Federal officials recently issued a report on pedestrian deaths across the United States between 1997 and 2006. Here's a sampling of what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found: * Pedestrians had only a slightly higher chance of dying in a car crash than people in a vehicle had. For every 100 million miles that people walked, 1.42 pedestrians were killed, whereas for every 100 million miles that people drove, 1.3 vehicle occupants were killed.

Six months ago, four companies were competing for the shuttle service at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida. Each of the 10 members on the selection committee agreed that the current operator, ShuttlePort, was ranked last and would not be renewed. In 2007, ShuttlePort drivers had been involved in two fatal accidents -- one of them a head-on collision between two of its vans -- killing a total of three people.

Nail gun injuries in the U.S. tripled from 1991 to 2005 as the products became more readily available, a report says. In 2005, 13,400 people sought emergency care for harm related to the tools, researchers said in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The nail gun injuries have extended to homes and garages what was a hazard seen mostly in workplaces such as construction sites, according to the report published by the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

HISTORICALLY, young males have had a significant edge over girls in a wide range of risky behaviors, among them, binge drinking and failure to wear seat belts. As a result, young men have been far more likely than young women to die in car crashes. Now emergency department physicians from UC Irvine Medical Center have found that, although boys still drink, fail to use seat belts and die in car crashes more often than girls, girls began to narrow the gap in all measures between 1995 and 2004.

When it comes to motorcycles, speed kills. At least that was the conclusion of an insurance industry study released Tuesday that found that motorcyclists were three times more likely to die when riding a high-performance racing bike than a hulking Harley-Davidson. So-called supersport motorcycles have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially among young riders looking for an extremely fast, lightweight bike.

A record number of fatal traffic incidents and a double-digit spike in shooting deaths led to one of the deadliest years for law enforcement officers in more than a decade. With the exception of 2001, which saw a dramatic increase in deaths because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, 2007 was the deadliest year for law enforcement since 1989, according to preliminary data released jointly by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and Concerns of Police Survivors.

On the open platforms of the country's largest subway system, where 7 million people crowd every day, almost every commuter is afraid of falling in front of a moving train. It is an emotional tariff included in the $2 fare -- along with exposure to noise levels that exceed a jet engine at takeoff, platform air that contains 100 times the levels of metal dust found at street level, flashers, panhandlers and the occasional broken turnstile.

The deaths of five skiers over a recent seven-day period on or near Mammoth Mountain appear to have been tragic accidents but have shaken this hamlet of outdoor enthusiasts. One victim was a Los Angeles dentist and avid outdoorsman, another a retired water deliveryman from Garden Grove, the third a San Diego teenager and the fourth a marketing representative from Laguna Niguel. The fifth was an accomplished ski patrol member traversing the Eastern Sierra's breathtaking backcountry.

DISEASES associated with travel -- SARS, bird flu, malaria -- grab most of the media attention and can trigger anxiety. But did you know a road accident is more likely to hurt you, especially if you are traveling in a developing country? That's true whether you are the driver, the occupant or even a pedestrian. Worldwide, about 1.17 million people die each year in road accidents, according to the U.S. State Department. That includes about 200 U.S. citizens killed in such accidents abroad.