Highest vehicle death rates in rural areas

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ATLANTA, March 23 (UPI) -- U.S. death rates from vehicle accidents rose from 2007 to 2009 with highest rates in rural counties and the lowest in large metro areas, officials say.

A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Vital Statistics System found for males, the 2007 to 2009 age-adjusted motor vehicle accident death rate was nearly three times as high in the most rural counties as in the most urban counties -- 37.6 versus 13.3 per 100,000 population.

For females, the rate was just over three times as high in the most rural counties as in the most urban counties -- 16.1 versus 5 per 100,000 population. For each urbanization level, motor vehicle accident death rates for females were consistently less than half those for males, the report said.

Mortality data from the National Vital Statistics System is one of the few sources of health-related data that are comparable for small geographic areas and are available for a long time period in the United States, officials said.