Car Accident Statistics
Nearly 43,000 people died in
car accidents in 2002, reports the U.S. Department of Transportation's
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This figure has
increased by 1.5% from the previous year. Although the number
of traffic-related injures has declined from 3.03 million to
2.92 million, the number of fatalities due to drunk driving has
steadily increased. More than one-quarter of Americans have been
involved in a car accident in the last five years.
The numbers are staggering:
- About 26% of drivers have been
involved in a car crash in the last five years.
- There were 17,419 alcohol-related
fatalities in 2002.
- More than half the fatalities
reported --59%--were not wearing seatbelts.
- Deaths from rollover crashes
totaled 82%.
- For the past five years, motorcycle
fatalities have been steadily increasing.
- Deaths of motorcyclists aged
50 and over have climbed by 26%.
Every 13 minutes, there is a
death caused by a motor vehicle accident. Car accidents claim
our very youngest and our very oldest populations. Americans
from the ages of 1-33 are more likely to die from a car accident
than from anything else. On the other side of the spectrum, elderly
adults aged 75 and up are most affected by motor vehicle crashes.
The good news is fatalities of children seven and under have
dropped, most likely due to safety seats. Also, pedestrian deaths
have declined by 1.9 percent.
Most car accidents are entirely
preventable. Drivers are most likely distracted, tired or possibly
drunk. The National Highway Safety Traffic Administration reports
that most drivers engage in activities that take their attention
away from the road. These activities include:
| Talking
with other passengers: |
81% |
| Playing
with the radio or CD: |
66% |
| Eating
or drinking: |
49% |
| Using
a cell phone: |
25% |
"If we are ever going to
reduce the needless deaths on the nation's highways, we're going
to need the American public to bear a greater responsibility
for their personal safety.''
-- Norman Mineta, U.S. Secretary of Transportation
