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Army vehicles No. 1 accidental killer of GIs

Incidents in Army vehicles accounted for the highest number of accidental fatalities among soldiers in fiscal 2007, but fewer soldiers died in accidents involving personally owned vehicles.

According to a press release from the Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Ala., 247 soldiers were killed in accidents in fiscal 2007, two more than the previous year.

“In the majority of the ground-related accidents and fatalities, reoccurring trends are emerging as key causal factors such as excessive speed for the conditions, complacency and indiscipline,” Lt. Col. Randall K. Cheeseborough, CRC ground task force chief, said in the release. “In some cases, units are developing controls, but failing to implement them and provide adequate supervision.”

Eighty-five percent of the fiscal 2007 aviation accidents were attributed to human factors, while the other 15 percent were caused by material failure.

“We’re seeing increases in aircrew coordination failure and incidents where overconfidence factors into mishaps,” said CRC air task force chief Lt. Col. Scott Kubica.

The readiness center did not provide statistics breaking down statistics for various categories of accidents, which include those involving aircraft and vehicles as well as negligent discharge, water-related incidents and accidents involving pedestrians.

The center noted that in many of the fatal accidents, alcohol was a contributing factor, and the majority of the fatal negligent discharges occurred off duty with privately owned weapons, the release said.

The CRC has overhauled its educational programs for soldiers, providing online access to a variety of trip planning and risk assessment tools, lessons learned from the field and best practices.

“It may be easy to get wrapped up in what went wrong and count losses this past fiscal year,” Army safety director Brig. Gen. Bill Forrester, said, “but it’s not as easy to know exactly what impact leaders have had in saving Soldiers’ lives and affecting their decisions.”