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Auto Accident Statistics

Fri 1st Feb, 2019 Personal Injury

Accidents can happen any time and on any sort of road. According to numbers from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), there are 34,247 fatal crashes in 2017 nationwide, resulting in 37,133 fatalities. In 2016, FARS recorded 34,748 fatal crashes causing 37,806 deaths. In the state of California, there were 3,304 fatal car accidents that resulted in 3,602 deaths in 2017. Only the state of Texas had more fatal crashes in 2017.

It’s numbers like these that explain why the Sacramento, CA attorneys of McKinley, Conger, Jolley & Galarneau, LLP take vehicle crashes so seriously. Let’s take a moment to consider some other statistics on auto collisions to offer some perspective on the dangers you may face on the road.

Injury Accident Statistics

According to numbers from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there were an estimated 2.17 million injury accidents in 2016. Additionally, there were 5.06 million auto accidents that resulted in vehicle damage only in 2016.

Large Truck/Tractor-Trailer Crashes

Numbers from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) reveal that there were 4,079 fatal accidents that involved large trucks or buses in 2016. These crashes resulted in 4,564 fatalities. Large truck crashes in 2016 also accounted for 119,000 injury collisions and 418,000 crashes that resulted in vehicle damage only.

Motorcycle Accident Numbers

The NHTSA’s statistics for 2016 recorded 5,286 fatalities from motorcycle accidents. While estimated numbers for injury motorcycle crashes are not available, there were an estimated 8.6 million motorcycle injury crashes in 2015.

Collisions and Type of Road

When comparing rural roads to urban roads, FARS noted that fatal accidents occurred on each road type in relatively similar numbers in 2017. There were 19,038 fatalities on urban roads (51 percent) and 17,216 deaths on rural roads (46 percent). Of those numbers, 879 auto crash fatalities occurred on unknown/unspecified road types.

In the state of California, a significant majority of fatal crashes were in urban areas during 2017. Urban roads accounted for 2,195 fatalities (61 percent) while rural roads accounted for 1,404 fatalities (39 percent).

Fatalities by Gender

In terms of gender, men accounted for more auto accident deaths than women by a significant margin. FARS numbers note that 26,380 men died in auto collisions in 2017. By comparison, women accounted for 10,697 car crash deaths.

Fatalities by Age

Age played a significant role in fatal collisions. There were 4,072 deaths for drivers between the ages of 20-24; of that number, men made up 2,983 of the fatalities. The next highest age group in terms of vehicle crash fatalities were people between the ages of 25-29, which had 3,770 deaths. This reinforced the need for young drivers to be cautious when they are on the road.

Speeding and Auto Accidents

The NHTSA estimates that speeding played a role in 9,717 fatal crashes. In total, that is roughly 26 percent of all fatal collisions.

Drunk Driving Statistics

The NHTSA found that alcohol-impaired driving played a role in 29 percent of all fatal collisions. There were 10,874 people killed in auto accidents in which a driver had a BAC of .08 or higher. In the state of California, there were 1,120 drunk driving fatalities.

Learn More About Auto Accident Lawsuits

For more information about your legal options in auto accidents, be sure to contact an experienced auto accident and injury lawyer. The attorneys of McKinley, Conger, Jolley & Galarneau, LLP are here to help. You can reach our law offices at 209-477-8171.

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