Highway fatalities, boosted by a rise in the number of rollover crashes, increased by 1.5 percent in 2002, reaching the highest level since 1990, according to data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Rollover crashes -- which increased by 5 percent, from 10,157 in 2001 to 10,666 in 2002 -- accounted for 82 percent of the total fatality increase. The number of persons killed in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) that rolled over increased as well – by 14 percent.