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Preliminary estimates from the NationalSafety Council (NSC) indicated that motor vehicle deaths dippedslightly — 1% — in 2017, claiming 40,100lives versus the 2016 total of 40,327.

In a statement, the NSC said that the small decline was notnecessarily an indication of progress as much as a leveling off ofthe steepest two-year increase in over 50 years. The 2017assessment was 6% higher than the number of deaths in 2015. If theestimate holds, it will be the second consecutive year that motorvehicle deaths topped 40,000.

Approximately 4.57 million people were seriously injured inmotor vehicle crashes in 2017, and costs to society totaled $413.8billion, the NSC said. Both figures were about 1%t lower than 2016calculations.

'Complacency is killing us'

“The price we are paying for mobility is 40,000 lives eachyear,” said the NSC's president and chief executive officer,Deborah A.P. Hersman. “This is a stark reminder that ourcomplacency is killing us. The only acceptable number is zero; weneed to mobilize a full court press to improve roadway safety.”

The NSC has tracked fatality trends and issued estimatesfor nearly 100 years. All estimates are subject to slight increasesand decreases as the data mature. The NSC collects fatality dataevery month from all 50 states and the District of Columbia anduses data from the NationalCenter for Health Statistics, so that deaths occurring withinone year of the crash and on both public and privateroadways — such as parking lots and driveways — areincluded in the estimates.

Factors impacting motor vehicle fatality trends included animproved economy, which helped fuel a 1% increase in miles drivenfrom 2016 to 2017, the NSC said.

The NSC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is toeliminate preventable deaths at work, in homes and communities, andon the road through leadership, research, education, and advocacy.Founded in 1913 and chartered by Congress, the NSC partners withgovernment agencies, elected officials, businesses, and the publicin areas where it can make the most impact.

Related: 5 best practices to fight the effects of distracteddriving

Steven A. Meyerowitz, Esq., ([email protected])is the director of FC&S Legal, the editor-in-chief of theInsurance Coverage Law Report, and the founder and president ofMeyerowitz Communications Inc. This story is reprinted withpermission from FC&S Legal, the industry's only comprehensivedigital resource designed for insurance coveragelaw.