Respectfully, with about 30 years of driving experience and some years (fortunately long behind me) with crazy mileage, it sounds like you're wrong, and that experience includes Canada (including winter), a very large portion of the United States, Europe (both East and West) and Latin America.
People are great drivers if you take into consideration the conditions that they drive in, and that traffic deaths include all vehicle types, not just cars.
Yes, cars are safer than they've ever been. But there is also much more traffic than there ever was (both because there are more people, people are more affluent and some countries have been more or less designed around vehicle ownership), and infrastructure has not always kept up, and - again, in some countries - the car as a status symbol translates into 'right of way for the best protected', which leads to unnecessary accidents.
The number of deaths is - indeed - not the right metric to evaluate driver quality, instead, the number of deaths per total number of miles driven is much better, and further breakdowns into occupants, pedestrians, motorcycles and so on should be made before drawing conclusions. And on that scale - again, taking into account the conditions that people drive in - they are doing very well indeed, some countries excepted.
My own best tricks to avoid getting into accidents: don't drive when there is ice / snow / excessive wind, never drive when you're tired, stay away from countries where driving is a bloodsport, keep your car in excellent shape and never ever drive impaired, and that impairment includes cell phone usage.
FWIW I'd be totally for a law that punishes cell phone usage while driving with immediate vehicle confiscation when spotted, as well as instant revocation of the driving license of the driver.