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Show Traffic record lists 40.000 deaths in 1963 Motorists in 1962 raced down the nation's highways on their way to a new and traggic death record which for the first time exceeded 40,000 fatalities. The number of people injured in-jured in traffic accidents took a sharp turn upward. U. S. highway deaths in 1962 totaled 40,500, a seven per cent increase over 1961. Not since 1941, when 39,969 persons lost their lives, has the traffic fatality record been so high. Excessive speed again led the way as the primary cause of accidents. Nearly 13,000 people were killed and more than 1,145,000 were injured as a direct result of speeding violations. vio-lations. Other major .causes of accidents included driving on the wrong side of the road and reckless driving. TJ. S. Injury Toll Approximately one-fourth of this country's population or an average of 45 million Americans are sidelined by injuries each year, a federal government survey shows. Leading the list of mishaps are falls, which injure about 12 million persons annually, only 2.89 million of the injured, in-jured, compared with the 4.1 million persons who are "struck by a moving object" such as a stone and the 3.48 ' million persons injured from having "bumped into an object or person." |