Car Accident Statistics

Let’s talk about car accident statistics in general.

No one gets in the car expecting to be involved in an accident, but there are more than 16,000 crashes reported each day in the U.S. – a total of 6.1 million crashes were reported to the police in 2014, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)1. While 72% of those crashes involved only property damage, the remaining 28% resulted in 2.3 million people being injured and the deaths of 32,675 others, including 766 here in Missouri. This doesn’t count the millions of accidents that are never reported, estimated at another 60% of all property damage only crashes and 24% of all injury crashes.

Some of the most common causes of car accidents are:

• Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Speeding
• Reckless driving
• Ignoring road conditions
• Talking on a cell phone/texting while driving
• Generally not paying attention
• Failure to maintain the vehicle mechanically

Whatever the causes are it seems we are making some progress. This same NHTSA report shows fatalities have decreased by 25% and injuries by 13% in the period from 2005 to 2014. Various sources give the following as possible reasons for the decline:

• Improved passive safety systems in vehicles, including better vehicle designs and improved airbags;
• New active technologies, such as electronic stability control which is now required in all new vehicles, and more advanced collision avoidance systems;
• Crackdown nationally on drunk driving and some jurisdictions requiring ignition interlock mechanisms on vehicles driven by those with prior DWI’s;
• Increased awareness of and new laws related to mobile device use while driving.

We can be hopeful that the future will yield better and better results, especially as technology improves and self-driving cars are perfected! That’s the good news. The bad news? There are still many people injured or killed in crashes each year, some of those seriously.

These car accident statistics are very warning. You should take care.

If you have any questions, contact us!