The Privatization of Roads and Highways

Appendix I

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APPENDIX I Annual U.S. Street & Highway Fatalities from 1957
Year Fatalities Vehicle Miles Rate/100M
Vehicle Miles
1957 38,702 646,915 5.98
1958 36,981 664,915 5.56
1959 37,910 700,478 5.41
1960 38,137 718,845 5.31
1961 38,091 737,535 5.16
1962 40,804 766,852 5.32
1963 43,564 805,423 5.41
1964 47,700 846,500 5.63
1965 49,163 887,640 5.54
1966 51,524 927,915 5.55
1967 51,559 965,132 5.34
1968 53,831 1,019,726    5.28
1969 55,032 1,066,108    5.16
1970 53,672 1,114,098    4.82
1971 53,761 1,183,524    4.54
1972 55,704 1,264,614    4.40
1973 55,113 1,316,207    4.19
1974 46,078 1,282,790    3.59
1975 45,500 1,330,074    3.42
1976 45,523 1,402,380    3.25
1977 47,878 1,467,027    3.26
1978 50,331 1,544,704    3.26
1979 51,103 1,529,133    3.34
1980 51,091 1,527,295    3.35
1981 49,301 1,552,803    3.17
1982 43,945 1,595,010    2.76
1983 42,589 1,652,788    2.58
1984 44,257 1,720,269    2.57
1986 46,056 1,835,000    2.51
1987 46,385 1,921,000    2.41
1988 47,093 2,026,000    2.32
1989 45,555 2,107,040    2.16
1990 44,529 2,147,501    2.07
1991 41,162 2,172,214    1.89
1992 39,235 2,239,828    1.75
1993 40,115 2,296,585    1.75
1994 40,676 2,359,984    1.72
1995 41,798 2,422,696    1.73
1996 41,907 2,485,848    1.69
1997 41,967 2,560,373    1.64
1998 41, 471 2,618,701    1.60
1999 41,611 2,692,335    1.50
2000 41,821 2,749,803    1.50
2001 42,116 2,781,462    1.51
20021 42,815 2,829,645    1.51

Data from Federal Highway Administration http://www.publicpurpose.com/hwy-fatal57+.htm

2 Preliminary data www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/AvailInf.html.

It cannot be denied that death rates per passenger mile traveled have declined over the past half century. It would be unfair to deny that governmental policies should be credited for at least part of this decrease. Limited-access highways and seat-belt legislation must be mentioned in this context. However, the evidence marshaled in this book suggests that had private, profit-making entrepreneurs been in charge of managing the nation’s roads instead of government bureaucrats, the fall would have been even more precipitous in terms of these rates. And in the place of a rather steady 40,000 road fatalities, many fewer would have perished.

  • 1*This chapter first appeared as Walter Block, “Free Market Transportation: Denationalizing the Roads,” Journal of Libertarian Studies 3, no. 2 (Summer, 1979): 209–38. The author wishes to express a debt of gratitude to Charles G. Koch and Edward H. Crane III of the Cato Institute, without whose efforts this work could not have been undertaken.
  • 2Free-Market Transportation: Denationalizing the Roads*
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