The Nation - News from March 23, 1988

Federal fuel-economy standards will cause thousands of traffic deaths next year by discouraging the use of safer, larger cars, two researchers said. A study by Robert W. Crandall of the Brookings Institution in Washington and John D. Graham of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston estimated the standards would cause 2,200 to 3,900 traffic deaths next year. The Transportation Department told Congress that passenger cars sold in the United States got 28.2 miles per gallon last year overall, up 0.2 miles per gallon from 1986.