STATS: Car Accident Statistics

On an average, there are more than 6 million car accidents on the roads of the US, annually.

More than 3 million people get injured due to car accidents, with more than 2 million of these injuries being permanent.

There are in excess of 40,000 deaths due to car accidents every year. Although this is a very high number by itself, some heart can be taken in the fact that statistics show that car accident fatalities have been witnessing a downward trend in recent years.

The majority of car accidents could be avoided if only the drivers would drive more responsibly. About 40% of car accident fatalities occur because of a drunken driver. About 30% of the car accident fatalities can be attributed to driving above the speed limits and 33% and above because of reckless driving that causes the car to go off the road and result in an accident.

The majority of car accident victims are the drivers, then the passengers of the car, followed by pedestrians, and lastly cyclists.

Every 12 minutes, one person dies because of a car accident. Every 14 seconds, a car accident results in an injured victim.

For those in the age group of 1 to 30 years, the leading cause of death is due to being involved in a car accident. People, who are between 15 to 24 years, and those who are above 75 years of age, are the people who are most severely affected by car accidents.

According to the car accident statistics released by the United States Department of Transportation’s (USDOT’s) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were almost 43,000 deaths in 2002 because of car accidents. The car accident fatalities for the year 2003 stand at 42,643.

In 2002, there were around 6,316,000 car accidents in the US, with these causing about 2.9 million injuries. In 2003, the total number of car accidents was 6,328,000 and the resulting injuries stood at almost 3 million.

More than 25% of all car drivers were involved in car accidents in a five year period.

In more than half of all car accident fatalities, the deceased were found not to be wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash. Even with seat belts being mandatory, a vast majority of people choose to disregard this safety precaution and end up losing their lives because of it.

Many car accidents are caused by people talking to other passengers while driving, and others due to drivers playing with the radio while driving. A large percentage is because of eating or drinking while driving, and 25% of car accidents are caused due to talking on the mobile phone while at the wheel of the car. These car accident statistics are sad enough on their own, the saddest part being that they could have easily been avoided had drivers been paying more attention to driving and less to other activities.

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