Perry Wingen, left, and Alan Terpstra, of Minnesota Department of Public Safety, install new poles on the cable median guardrails in the center of Interstate-35 on Thursday. The State Patrol calls these "shredders" because they virtually destroy automobiles but allow occupants to walk away.

FATALITY RATES DROP FATALITY RATES DROP Fewer Americans are killed in automobile crashes than at any time since the 1950s, but the nation can do better — much better, according to a growing number of highway safety advocates and transportation officials pushing the USA to adopt a goal of zero traffic fatalities. "Zero is the only thing that's acceptable," says Anthony Kane, director of engineering and technical services at the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). "Are we ever going to get there? Probably not. But think of it the way you think of the cultural change around tobacco. That's the kind of cultural change we have to make, and that is the toughest nut to crack." WORD TO YOUTH: Texting, driving don't mix STRICTER LAWS: States go after texting drivers LAHOOD: New group combats distracted driving The approach is called Toward Zero Deaths, based on a philosophy that even one road death is morally and ethically unacceptable. The goal: to alter behaviors that cause fatalities, such as speeding, drunken or distracted driving, and lack of seat belts. Speeding is a factor in more than 31% of road deaths, drunken driving in 32%, and distracted driving in about 16%. And 55% of those killed in passenger vehicles are not wearing seat belts, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Last year, 33,963 people died in traffic crashes in the USA, an 8.9% decline from 2008 and the lowest total since 1954, according to the Department of Transportation. The fatality rate of 1.16 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled was the lowest since the government started tracking it in 1966. Among the developments in the Toward Zero Deaths effort: • Six states — Idaho, Minnesota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and West Virginia — have adopted statewide versions of the zero deaths program. • A new coalition of safety advocates, transportation officials and police is urging Congress to set a national goal of reducing annual traffic fatalities by half over the next 20 years. • In August, safety advocates will meet in Washington, D.C., for a conference on the issue hosted by AASHTO and the Transportation Research Board. Peter Kissinger, president of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, says a national zero tolerance program would erase a "sense of complacency" about road deaths. Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the non-profit, libertarian Reason Foundation, a research group, says zero fatalities is "probably not a good goal to set, not because it wouldn't be nice, but because it's probably unattainable." A grassroots effort Tara Lemon, 19, lost three roommates in two separate traffic crashes this past year. Lemon, a student at Snow College in Ephraim, Utah, says two of her roommates — sisters Micah and Shilo Edwards — were killed when their car collided with a pickup on icy roads in February 2009. In September, another one of Lemon's roommates, Patricia Rogers, died from injuries suffered in a head-on collision. "We've all been told to drive safe," Lemon says. "Zero Fatalities tells you why." Utah is one of the states already on board with a zero fatalities initiative, says Robert Hull, director of traffic and safety at the Utah Department of Transportation. "If you talk to anybody and ask, with your family and friends, what is the acceptable number of fatalities, the answer is zero. By taking it to that grassroots level, the person understands it and accepts it." Since launching a zero traffic deaths program in 2006, the state's traffic deaths have fallen almost 15%, from 287 to 245 last year, Hull says. The state already had cut road deaths by 24% from 2000 to 2005, partly by implementing engineering changes such as rumble strips and median separations, he says. He acknowledges that the economic downturn likely accounted for some of the recent decline as people drove less. Momentum for a national zero fatalities approach has been building since a Governors Highway Safety Association conference in Savannah, Ga., this past September, when National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Deborah Hersman addressed whether the goal was attainable. "Is that realistic?" she asked. "How many people in this country died of polio last year? How many from smallpox? From cholera? Fifty years ago, could anyone have imagined these diseases would be virtually wiped out from our society?" A lot rides on technology The concept of reducing traffic deaths to zero was developed in 1997 by public health researchers in Sweden. They called it Vision Zero; other European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal, subsequently implemented Vision Zero. Those countries saw a 14% decline in road fatalities for 2001-2004, according to a 2006 report by the Stockholm Environment Institute. "In the history of traffic deaths, people have been willing to say, 'This was an act of God,' or 'This person didn't know he was drowsy and that was a personal failing on his part,' " Kissinger says. "But Toward Zero Deaths says even if you were drowsy and drove off the road, shouldn't the roadway environment be forgiving enough that it doesn't turn into a serious injury or death?" Hull and other zero traffic death proponents such as Bernie Arseneau of the Minnesota Department of Transportation say that technological safety advances in automobiles will be a major factor in reaching their goal. These include cameras that detect when a driver is drowsy; lane departure technology that causes a car to vibrate when the driver leaves the lane; electronic stability control that reduce fatalities in rollovers; and alcohol ignition interlocks that prevent inebriated drivers from starting vehicles. "We're seeing technology today that you could only dream about years go," Arseneau says. "I believe that technology is going to get us to a point where zero deaths is achievable." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. 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