Comprehensive Health Care and Motor-Vehicle Safety

Abstract

Motor-vehicle accidents in Massachusetts last year claimed on the order of 31,000 years of potential life¹ (Table 1), second for that dubious distinction only to ischemic heart disease. Accidents in general rank fourth among major causes of death in Massachusetts¹ and the United States,² and motor-vehicle accidents are the number-one killer in the nation of people between the ages of five and 44,² usually healthy people entering their most productive years (Table 2).In 1974 alone, highway accidents cost the Commonwealth's residents approximately $200 million in lost wages, medical expenses, insurance administration costs, and property damage.² About 150 insurance carriers . . .