# war facts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2001, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-facts/51310 "2001-01-22T20:43:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Athono](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@Athono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athono)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-facts/51310/1 "2001-01-22T20:43:30Z")
I heard once that more Americans died in fatal car accidents during the Vietnam war than the number of Americans that died in combat during the war. No one believes me. If it is true, it is an interesting fact that you could comment on. ---
**Author:** ![hardhead365](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/71c47a/32.png) [@hardhead365](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardhead365)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-facts/51310/2 "2001-01-22T21:06:51Z")
You can find the information for 1997 here 41,480 died in traffic accidents. I believe that the 60’s and 70’s averaged somewhat higher, about 50,000 but was unable to find the information quickly. There were about 56,000 killed in Vietnam over a 10 year period, during the same period there were about 500,000 killed in traffic accidents in the United States. There were lots of demonstrations against the war, no demonstrations against automobiles. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-facts/51310/3 "2001-01-22T22:11:34Z")
This from the UK traffic statistics office, > [@](#): > > Detailed Analysis of Road Casualties Published Today > 28 September 2000 > > “Road Accidents Great Britain : 1999 the Casualty Report” is published today. > > It contains detailed information on personal injury road accidents in Great Britain in 1999, supplementing the summary statistics released on 29 June 2000. The report also highlights: > > The number of people killed or seriously injured fell by 4 per cent in 1999 compared to the 1998 level; the number of people killed was 3423 - 2 more than in 1998; > The number of children killed or seriously injured in road accidents fell by 6 per cent in 1999 compared to the 1998 level ; and > The number of deaths in drink drive accidents fell for the third successive year according to provisional estimates for 1999. However, the total drink drive related casualty estimate rose to the 1997 level following the drop in 1998. Now given that the population of the UK is around one fifth fo the US then for the US to have traffic mortality at our levels would mean around 17500. I know that I am not comparing like with like given that the mileage by the US citizen is probably much greater than the but take that together with other violents deaths, such as murder which is just over 8 times our per capita rate, it just makes me think what a stressed out dangerous place the US can be. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-facts/51310/4 "2001-01-22T22:50:37Z")
According to info at this site [http://www.dps.state.mn.us/trafsafe/97crashfacts/introtoc/introduction.html](http://www.dps.state.mn.us/trafsafe/97crashfacts/introtoc/introduction.html) There were 53,041 traffic fatalities in the U.S. in 1966 alone. You can probably come up with a reasonable estimate for that compares with the number of U.S. fatalities in Vietnam. One obvious reason for there being more traffic fatalities is that there many more people who ride in cars than serve in the Army. You had a much better chance of coming home in a body bag from Vietnam than you do getting in your car and driving down to the grocery store.