IF the stats are correct ... it is because of better operating cars being driven by better trained and operating operators and NOT by denying driver’s licenses and forbidding the manufacturing and sale of automobiles.
Diamond cites the Center for American Progress as his source.
Perhaps air bags on all firearms?
Exactly.
Traffic fatalities have DROPPED in the Unites States by almost 40% since 1980 and that's with a 40% RISE in population. This is due to a few significant factors:
1. Cars are safer now, we're paying a lot more for them, but they're safer.
2. Seat belt usage has gone up dramatically. In the early 1980s less than 15% of people wore seat belts, today it's nearly 90%. Part of this is due to laws, but a lot of it is because of education.
3. Drunk driving rates have dropped dramatically since MADD started in the early 1980s.
ALL of these reasons have to do with automobiles and the way people drive them, it has nothing to do with guns.