Statistics on Auto Accidents

Leading causes of Automobile Accidents:

Several studies have been done over the years and statistics have been recorded as a result that details the leading causes of serious auto accidents. These leading causes appear below:

1. Distracted drivers – There are innumerable distractions that can steal the attention of a driver, and loss of focus for even one second behind the wheel can prove to be deadly. Some of the most common examples of distracted driver scenarios include:

* Rubber-necking – Stopping to peer at another accident
* General fatigue
* Scenery
* In-cabin distractions – Children, pets and passengers are included
* Entertainment – Radios, CD players and now even DVD players are available
* Map-reading

2. Driver fatigue – According to the United States National Traffic Safety Administration, fatigued drivers account for approximately 100,000 auto accidents every year. As one would expect, the risk is at its highest during the night, as this is when tired people tend to either begin to drive or continue to drive well beyond the point where they should take a break.

3. Alcohol – Despite the millions of dollars that are spent on marketing campaigns designed to persuade people to stop drinking and driving, it still occurs at alarming rates. Almost 20,000 people every year are killed in the United States in auto accidents where alcohol is a factor, and that number is sadly holding steady.

4. Aggressive driving – We have all seen ‘that’ person on the highway who darts in and out of lanes, cuts people off and basically drives as recklessly as one could imagine. Even though most forget these drivers as temporary annoyances, the fact is that they do real damage on our roadways.

5. Speeding – Speed limits are laws, despite the fact that so many people blatantly disobey them with alarming regularity. The reasons for higher injury and fatality numbers when speeding is involved are many, but one of the most prominent is a basic matter of physics – it takes much longer for a driver who is going too fast to slow down or correct a mistake than someone who is traveling at a reasonable rate of speed.

6. Weather and road conditions – When someone thinks of weather-related auto accidents, they tend to consider those parts of the country that feature cold winters and icy roads. While there are certainly a high number of accidents in those areas, even parts of the country where rain is rare can cause problems when the roads are wet, as they become slippery quickly when water is dumped onto dry pavement.