Cell phones are a major factor. At any given daylight moment on U.S. roads, there are 660,000 people texting according to NHTSA. http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/NHTSA+Survey+Finds+660,000+Drivers+Using+Cell+Phones+or+Manipulating+Electronic+Devices+While+Driving+At+Any+Given+Daylight+Moment

National Safety Council, however, thinks that the improving economy is also a big reason why the jump in deaths was so high last year!

The NSC identifies an improving economy as a possible cause for the increase, citing factors like lower unemployment and cheaper gas, which usually combine to mean more miles driven. During recession periods, people don’t drive to work as much or take as many vacations, since they have less discretionary income, Hersman says, and fatalities usually fall.

It is scary w/ cell phones because everyone knows it is dangerous but people keep doing it anyway. They've done lots of surveys in which people acknowledge how dangerous it is to text and then also admit to doing it frequently when driving.

Which is a problem, because each time someone does this and something doesn't happen, it subconsciously reduces the risk of the behavior in their brains so they are more likely to do it again. People start to think, I text all the time and nothing happens, so it obviously isn't as risky when I do this as it is when other people do.

I agree about cell phones/texting. A woman with her kids in the car was texting and never saw the cars stopped for a red light in front of her. She ran into the back of the last car which was shoved into mine. Fortunately there was only minimal damage to my car and no injuries, but had she been going faster, I hate to think. Cell phones have introduced a whole new population of careless drivers onto the roads. It used to be drunks, teenagers, hot rodders (I am dating myself with that term!) and old folks who scared us. Now people we formerly thought of as good citizen drivers have become threats.

I traveled last week on business, about a 5-hour drive each way. Speed limits seem unnecessarily high - 80 on one of the toll roads around Austin! What does one do if a tire blows or suddenly encounters debris in the road at that rate of speed? Doesn't going faster make it that much easier to flip a vehicle in an extreme swerve? Of course, a speed limit of 80 means that most drivers were going even faster. I was extremely uncomfortable driving that fast, and kept to the slow lane (as did others, I noticed) doing 70-75 tops.

Why do we need such high speed limits, anyway? Am I missing something?

I just don't understand the obsession with constantly being on the phone either talking or texting. And people KNOW they should not be on the phone in any form while driving. If it's so important, pull over. Don't put yourself and others in harm's way. I'm really tired of being behind or next to people in the car who are on their phones. I'd love to do a prolonged honk at them but worry THAT would cause an accident.

"Doesn't going faster make it that much easier to flip a vehicle in an extreme swerve?"

All I know is that I feel a thousand times safer driving in Europe than in the US and there are many roads there in which have no limits. I wish we had the same driving education requirements here as there and that the laws were enforced here as they are there, i.e. slow traffic and trucks stay to the right, dammit! I don't remember noticing drivers texting in Europe. I wonder if it's a problem there as well, and if it isn't a problem, how it is handled there.

I had a woman almost run into me the other day. She was in a convertible and talking on her phone. We were at a stop light together, she behind me. I leaned out of the car window and yelled at her to get off her #*@! phone. She didn't.

People are using their phones not only for texting and talking, but for picking out tunes and for maps and directions. There are also likely more people, driving more in more congested areas, and driving faster.

Sleep deprivation is also very high today. Driving when tired is as bad as DUI.

'Lack of sleep is also linked to high blood pressure, heart attack, and increased risk of car accidents, depression, and substance abuse. And you don’t need scientific research to tell you that when people are exhausted they become forgetful, inattentive, and irritable.You are more likely to make poor decisions when you don’t get enough sleep.

One study conducted on soldiers to test the effect of sleep on accuracy with firearms showed that soldiers who slept:

7 hours were 98% accurate during target practice.

6 hours were only 50% accurate.

5 hours of sleep accuracy dropped to 28%,

4 hours of sleep they were a dangerous 15% accurate!'

The news report I saw said the reason that the death toll is higher is because gas prices are down so there's more cars on the road. So yes, texting, drunk driving, speed racers (a big problem on our freeways) and people on prescription drugs like xanex are a problem, and since gas is cheap, there are just more of them to deal with.

I agree with dsg, it isn't the higher speed on a road that is dangerous, but the fact that people don't follow the other rules of the road. Drivers here just dawdle along in the passing lane, clueless that they are blocking a whole line of cars. Then we have many that never signal.

Many of our highways are designed for much higher speed limits, so they shouldn't be any more dangerous if all the rules that are meant to maintain order are followed.

I will also honk at someone who is on the phone and not paying attention to the road and do the phone-to-the-ear hand gesture while shaking my head. Most just ignore the suggestion!

It is soooo scary to drive behind someone who is texting or whatever on their phone. They are weaving, slowing, and I'm a little afraid to pass because I don't know if they're going to weave my way just as I pull up alongside.

I also notice that in a lot of newer cars, the controls for air, radio/CDS selection, sound, etc, are all done from a screen, pulling eyes away from the road.

Here they attribute the rise in traffic fatalities to DUIIs along with distracted driving.

OPB: Traffic Fatalities In The Northwest Rising At Fastest Rate In Country

"In 2015, Oregon experienced a 25 percent increase in traffic fatalities
versus the year before. Washington state jumped 23 percent and Idaho
crash deaths went up 16 percent."

“A lot of people get wrapped around that being marijuana. I want to make sure that everybody knows, it’s about drugged driving,” Grondel said. “It’s all. It’s (also) prescription drugs as well as illicit drugs.”

Also saw an article also talking about more vehicles on the road, but people are back to buying larger vehicles because gas prices are lower.

https://youtu.be/irE5z6X2pL0

this is not from a movie scene

mdln, the video showed a very distracted truck driver ... do we know what he was doing?

The video also showed how useful it is to have dash cams (both front and rear) in a car.

As I understand it, what the truck driver was doing is still under investigation. Amazing there were no fatalities in that crash. Modern car design really helped those people.