Along with the results of AutoInc.'s How's Your Business? survey (see page 44), a look at some vehicle statistics may be helpful. The number of registered vehicles rose to 201,070,397 (76,397,477 trucks and 124,672,920 passenger cars) according to the Polk Co. Median age of vehicles shows a steady increase from the 1996 numbers of 7.9 for cars and 7.7 for trucks to 1997 figures of cars averaging 8.1 years and trucks averaging 7.8 years. With the age of vehicles on the increase, new retail sales of passenger cars showed a slight decrease in 1996 with 8,527,000 reported, including both domestic and import, down from 8,635,000 in 1995. Fleet sales of vehicles in- creased slightly in the United States with 9,124,000 auto fleet totals and 6,446,000 truck fleet totals for 1996.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the average miles driven in 1996 for passenger cars was 11,314 and light trucks averaged 11,827 with an average gasoline consumption of 531 gallons for passenger cars and 684 gallons for light trucks. Fuel economy averages 21.3 miles to the gallon for passenger cars; 17.3 miles to the gallon for light trucks.

With miles being driven and numbers of registered vehicles increasing, accidents are bound to happen. Transportation fatalities for 1996 increased slightly to 44,505 from 44,426 in 1995. Passenger car and truck fatalities totaled 32,938 in 1996 and 32,639 in 1995. The total number of transportation accidents also increased in 1996 to 6,892,000, up from 6,752,000 in 1995. Passenger car accidents increased by almost 140,000 from 5,523,000 in 1995 to 5,659,000 in 1996. Fortunately fatalities are decreasing although the number of accidents increases.

The majority of the above figures were generated by the U.S. Department of Trans- portation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics division. Stat Corner is written by Denise Caspersen, ASA's research management specialist. Caspersen can be reached at (800) 272-7467, ext. 236.

Stat Corner is written by Denise Caspersen, ASA's research management specialist. She can be reached at (800) 272-7467, ext. 236.

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