Nation
State
Monday • July 28,19
Fatal accidents increase
on small Texas highways
DALLAS (AP) —The rural roads of Texas are be
coming deadlier, and law enforcement officials say
they do not know why.
In Waller County, 15 people were killed last year,
compared with three in 1995 — a 400 percent in
crease in the 25,000-person county just northwest
of Houston. The jump was one of the highest in the
state for counties with more than 10 fatalities.
“Last year was just outrageous,’’ Waller County
Sheriff Randy Smith told The Dallas Morning News
in Sunday’s editions. “I really don’t know why, but
we had a lot of three- and four-people accidents.
We’ve never had a year that high.”
a
None of these seem to
make sense. A lot of the
fatalities were on rural roads
where we don’t have a lot of
traffic.”
Brent Button
Hill County Sheriff
Although fatalities increased on all Texas roads last
year, rural county roads and two-lane state and U.S.
highways posted the biggest jumps. Some speculate
that the death rate was influenced by a 1996 increase
in speed limits on many roads to 70 mph.
According to county-by-county traffic statis
tics recently compiled by the Texas Department
of Public Safety, fatalities more than doubled last
year in 15 Texas counties with more than 10 traf
fic deaths in 1996. Those counties are Bowie,
Brown, Cooke, Eastland, Galveston, Hill, Hood,
Jim Wells, Kaufman, Madison, Palo Pinto, Polk,
Taylor, Waller and Washington.
“None of these seem to make sense,” said
Sheriff Brent Button of Hill County, where fatal
ities rose from nine in 1995 to 31 in 1996. “A lot
of the fatalities were on rural roads where we
don’t have a lot of traffic.”
Harris County remains Texas’ leader in fatalities
with 366 in 1996. That represents a 21 percent in
crease over 1995, when the home county of Hous
ton led the state with 302 fatalities.
Dallas County followed last year with 270 fatal
ities, a 9 percent rise over its 247 fatalities in 1995.
Tarrant Country saw a decrease, from 135 in 1995
to 126 last year.
Statewide, 3,738 people were killed on Texas
roads in 1996, an increase of almost 18 percent.
Despite the increases, state and county officials
are reluctant to establish a cause-and-effect rela
tionship between speed and deaths just yet. They
say there were a number of factors besides speed:
Alcohol, traffic congestion, economics and increas
ingly hostile drivers.
“It’s difficult to put a finger on it at this time,”
said Jim Templeton, manager of the accident
records bureau for the Department of Public
Safety. "The type of study needed to determine a
cause-and-effect relationship requires certain
data that we don’t yet have.”
Checkmate
Photograph: Brandon::
Dr. Dusan Djuric, a Professor of meterology and a member of the
Chess Club practices Sunday afternoon. TAMU Chess Club meets Sund:" f ron
1 - 5 p.m. at Rudder Tower. sco .
the I
burd
Campus Calendar
Monday
Costs of workplace injuries rise
Expenses now rival those of heart disease and cancer
CHICAGO (AP) - Job-related
injuries and illnesses are more
common than most people be
lieve, costing the nation far more
than AIDS or Alzheimer’s disease
and at least as much as cancer or
heart disease, a new report says.
“Occupational injuries and ill
nesses are an insufficiently ap
preciated contributor to the total
burden of health care costs in the
United States,” researchers say in
Monday’s issue of the Archives of
Internal Medicine.
The researchers combined
many sources of government and
other data for what they believe
are the first national estimates of
job-related injuries and illnesses
in a single year.
In 1992, about 6,500 Americans
died and 13.2 million were hurt
from work-related causes, said the
researchers, led by J. Paul Leigh of
the economics department at San
Jose State University in California.
That toll averages to 18 deaths
and 36,000 injuries a day, com
pared with government estimates
of 17 workers fatally hurt each day
and 9,000 nonfatally injured.
Occupational illnesses —
such as lung diseases and lead
poisoning — caused 60,300
deaths and 862,200 illnesses in
1992, the researchers said. That
averages to 165 deaths and more
than 2,300 new ailments daily,
compared to government figures
of 137 and 1,095 daily in those
categories, respectively.
And the new report probably
underestimates the totals because
injuries and illnesses are under
counted, the researchers said.
^ ^ The magnitude
of the occupational
health burden really
rivals other major
problems.”
Dr. Linda Rosenstock
Director of National
Institute for Occupational
Safety and Health
In all, the direct costs of in
juries and illnesses totaled $65
billion in 1992 ($178 million a
day), the researchers said. Indi
rect costs — including lost wages
— were $106 billion ($290 million
a day), they said. That made the
total $171 billion that year ($468
million a day.)
That is far more than the 1992
cost of AIDS, which was $30 billion,
excluding the costs of administrat
ing worker’s compensation, Social
Security or health insurance bene
fits. Occupational injuries and ill
nesses were $155 billion, excluding
those administrative costs, the re
searchers said.
Similarly, the direct and indirect
economic burden of Alzheimer’s
disease in 1992 was much less than
work-related deaths and injuries.
Alzheimer’s totaled $67.3 billion,
including administrative costs, the
researchers said.
And for heart and all other
blood-vessel diseases, the total
was $164.3 billion. For cancer, it
was $170.7 billion. For muscu
loskeletal diseases, such as
arthritis and osteoporosis, it was
$149 billion, researchers said.
“The authors make a veiy good
case that the magnitude of the oc
cupational health burden really ri
vals other major problems,” said
Dr. Linda Rosenstock, director of
the National Institute for Occupa
tional Safety and Health.
Her agency, part of the Cen
ters for Disease Control and Pre
vention, helped pay for the re
search but did not have a hand in
its design or conclusions, and
she was not involved in the work.
She said the report should en
courage the nation to put a greater
emphasis on workplace safety.
“We have tools for prevention
here, in the workplace, that
sometimes just don’t exist for oth
er illnesses,” she said by tele
phone from Washington. “These
are all inherently preventable ill
nesses and injuries.”
Aggie Roadrunners: There will be a
daily run of 2-3 miles beginning at 7
p.m. in front of G. Rollie White. Run
ners of all levels are encouraged to
attend. For more information call
Hank Bullinger at 821-6339.
Texas A&M Women’s Rugby:
There will be practice from 6 p.m.
to 8 p.m. at the TAMU Rugby Field.
No experience is necessary. For
more information contact Wendy at
696-9012.
Tuesday
TAMU Waterski Team: There will be
a general meeting at 8:30 p.m. at
Fitzwilly’s. For more information call
Mike Coyle at 268-2076.
Aggie Roadrunners: There will be
a daily run of 2-3 miles beginning
at 7 p.m. in front of G. Rollie White.
Runners of all levels are encour
aged to attend. For more informa
tion call Hank Bullinger at 821-
6339.
Wednesday
Aggie Roadrunners: There will be a
daily run of 2-3 miles beginning at 7
p.m. in front of G. Rollie White. Run
ners of all levels are encouraged to
attend. For more information call
Hank Bullinger at 821-6339.
Texas A&M Women’s Rugby:
There will be practice from 6 p.m.
to 8 p.m. at the TAMU Rugby Field.
No experience is necessary. For
more information contact Wendy at
696-9012.
Texas Aggie Brew Club: There will be
a meeting about beer and brewing at
Carney’s Pub at 7 p.m. For more in
formation contact Abel at 845-5236
or abelmann@iname.com.
Thursday
Aggie Roadrunners: There wil
daily run of 2-3 miles beginning!
p.m. in front of G. Rollie W
ners of all levels are encourage:
attend. For more information
Hank Bullinger at 821-6339
Texas A&M Women’s Rugby: I s
will be practice from 6 p.m.
at the TAMU Rugby Field. Noei:
ence is necessary. For more
mation contact Wendy at 696-9(1
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