Traffic Deaths High

WASHINGTON (AP) — Traffic fatalities rose 5.6 percent last year, with the biggest spikes in pedestrian and motorcyclist deaths, the government said Friday.

There were 37,461 people killed on U.S. roads in 2016 as Americans continue to drive more, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said. That's the highest number of deaths since 2007.

The fatality rate was 1.18 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, a 2.6 percent increase from the previous year.

Traffic deaths have been increasing since late 2014, as gas prices have fallen and people started driving more. In 2016, the total number of miles driven in the U.S. rose 2.2 percent.

Last year's increase in deaths follows an 8.4 percent surge in deaths in 2015. The last time the U.S. had similar back-to-back increases of that magnitude was more than five decades ago.

Pedestrian deaths last year hit their highest level since 1990, with 5,987 people killed. That figure represents a 9 percent increase from the previous year.

Motorcyclist deaths were up 5.1 percent, reaching their highest level — 5,286 killed — since 2008.

Together, they accounted for more than a third of the increase in fatalities compared with 2015.

Pedestrians "are unprotected and, in most cases, outnumbered," said Deborah Hersman, CEO of the National Safety Council.

"We must not forget that the risks we are all facing extend to the sidewalks, too," she said. "Everyone deserves safe passage, and these numbers are yet another indication that we must do more to keep each other safe."

Bicycle deaths increased only slightly, 1.3 percent, but were at their highest number — 840 killed — since 1991.

Deaths related to distracted and drowsy driving declined. Those declines were more than offset by other dangerous behaviors, including speeding, alcohol impairment and not wearing seat belts, the safety administration said.

Data on fatalities attributed to distracted or drowsy driving have limitations. The information is drawn from police reports, but it's not always obvious to police if a driver was distracted or fell asleep. Also, if it's clear that a driver was at fault in a crash, police may not investigate further to determine if the driver was distracted or drowsy.

Traffic deaths declined significantly during the Great Recession and during the economic recovery as Americans cut back on their driving. Increased seat belt use, reductions in alcohol impairment, and improved auto safety equipment like air bags and electronic stability control also contributed to the decline.

The large increases in fatalities of 2015 and 2016 eliminated more than a third of the progress over the past decade in reducing the number of people killed on the roads each year.

FIVE STATS This Week

The percentage of Russians who identify themselves as “non-religious” has fallen from 75 percent in April 1989 to just 19 percent in November 2013.

Latinos are the fastest-growing U.S. voting bloc. But more than 60 percent of House GOP members represent districts where Latinos make up less than 10 percent of the vote. That disparity makes the 2014 legislative agenda more predictable but the 2016 GOP presidential debates much more interesting.

Venezuela, a country with fewer than 30 million people, suffered nearly 25,000 homicides in 2013, according to the Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a consortium of seven universities. The Venezuelan government, which has not published crime stats since 2005, denies these figures. For more context, there were 14,827 homicides in the United States in 2012 (the latest year for which nationwide stats are available)—a country of about 314 million people.

In January, the United States’ labor-force participation rate for all ages was 63 percent—that’s within 0.2 percent of its lowest level since March 1978. Historically, the long-term unemployed have usually comprised between 10 and 20 percent of total unemployment. Today the number is 35.8 percent.

Last week, China and Taiwan held direct talks for the first time since 1949. Since his election and the easing of mainland travel restrictions in 2008, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou has put his preference for closer ties with Beijing on full display. Last year a record three million Chinese traveled to Taiwan. Cross-strait trade has nearly doubled, reaching $197 billion last year. But Ma’s approval ratings have dipped as low as 9 percent; it remains to be seen if improved relations will end along with Ma’s presidential term in two years. 

OLDER DADS

New dads may sport a few more gray hairs than in years past, a U.S. study finds.

The average age of new fathers has risen in recent decades, research shows, raising questions about the possible social and public health impact.

The study, which analyzed federal birth records, found that fathers of newborns are now 3.5 years older, on average, than their counterparts in the early 1970s.

And the percentage of births to fathers older than 40 has more than doubled -- from about 4 percent in 1972, to 9 percent in 2015.

The pattern is not surprising, since it parallels what's been seen among U.S. women.

But much less research has explored the changing demographics of American fathers, according to senior researcher Dr. Michael Eisenberg.

"I think it's important for us to pay attention to these demographic shifts and what their implications could be for society," said Eisenberg, an assistant professor of urology at Stanford University in California.

On one hand, he said, older fathers are more likely to have kids affected by certain health conditions, such as autism and schizophrenia.

Plus, couples who wait to start a family will likely have fewer kids, Eisenberg noted. And that could mean a shrinking pool of working people supporting older, retired Americans.

"I'm not trying to sound alarmist," Eisenberg stressed. "But these are issues to think about."

The aging of U.S. parents also has potential benefits, though.

Older dads, Eisenberg said, tend to have better jobs, more stability, and be more involved in their children's lives.

Does that mean the trend in fathers' ages will translate into growing ranks of involved, caring dads?

"That's a hard question to answer," said Richard Gallagher, an associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU Langone Child Study Center, in New York City.

It is true that men who are more-educated and in stable relationships tend to become fathers relatively later, said Gallagher, who was not involved in the study.

"And from a psychological perspective," he said, "older parents are likely to be more mature and less impulsive in their behavior."

But, Gallagher noted, age alone does not guarantee good parenting skills. "Older age does not mean everything will work out well," he said.

Surveys do show that "older" dads -- those ages 35 to 44 -- are more likely to be living with their kids, and therefore more involved in raising them, according to Eisenberg's team.

And there's evidence that kids benefit from fathers' involvement, Gallagher said: On average, they tend to do better at school, and have more self-esteem and better emotional regulation.

Having two involved parents "is like a double-dose of caring," Gallagher said.

The findings, published online Aug. 30 in the journal Human Reproduction, are based on records for nearly 169 million U.S. births over the past four decades.

In 1972, fathers of newborns were just over 27 years old, on average. By 2015, that average age stood at 31, the researchers reported.

The pattern was seen among fathers of all races and ethnicities, though the average age varied. By 2015, Asian men were the oldest (34 to 36 years), and black, Hispanic and Native American men were the youngest (29 to 30 years).

Few men older than 50 are becoming new fathers; they account for 0.9 percent of all births, the study found. But that is up from 0.5 percent in the 1970s.

Since men have a much longer reproductive life than women do, there is no clear definition of what an "older father" is, Eisenberg said.

"The oldest father on record was 96 years old," he noted, referring to a man in India who had children with a wife in her 50s.

However, men do have their own biological clock of sorts. Their fertility declines with age, Eisenberg said, as does their sperm quality.

It's been estimated that men acquire, on average, two additional mutations in their sperm each year, Eisenberg said. Plus, older fatherhood has been tied to increased risks of certain chromosomal abnormalities, autism, some pediatric cancers and schizophrenia.

The risks to any one man, however, would be small, Eisenberg pointed out. "Those are not common conditions. So even if the relative risk were increased, the absolute risk would still be low," he said.

Still, he added, additional cases of child health conditions could have a bigger impact on a societal level.