Car Accidents Claim More Than 43,000 Lives Every Year

Make note of today’s date as you read this blog.

On average, 119 people are killed in car crashes each day, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. That totals 43,443 deaths in a single year.

Over at the Two Cities Two Wheels, a blogger writes about an interesting report that the Insitute put out. The report is called “One Day of Crashes” and it provides details about the 119 car crash deaths that occured nationwide on June 7, 2005. As this blogger points out, it seems that everyone knows of someone who was killed in an automobile accident.

Why June 7, 2005? As I mentioned earlier in this blog, car crashes kill an average of 119 people every day in the United States. On June 7, 2005, 119 people across the country died in 102 separate crashes. A snapshot in time with huge statistical significance. Not to mention the significance that these 119 deaths had on the friends, relatives and loved ones of the victims.

Here’s an excerpt from the report, but I urge you to download the entire document to find out more about the human toll of fatal car accidents:

June 7 was the day with the average number of crashes for 2005. Pick any day of the year and you’ll see a similar mix of crash types involving unrestrained children, teenage drivers and passengers, elderly pedestrians, and risky vehicles such as motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles.

This special Status Report shares the stories of 15 people who died that day and lists names of 45 others. Status Report talked with victims’ friends and families to personalize the statistics and illustrate the devastating impact.

“Crashes are so complicated, so many factors are involved, and so many things can go wrong — do go wrong — that we’ll never get to the point where there are zero crash deaths,” says Anne McCartt, Institute senior vice president for research. “But if you look closely at the deaths on June 7, you see that none of the people in these stories had to die. We know how to prevent most crash deaths. We just don’t always apply what we know.”

If someone you know was killed or seriously injured in a car accident that was someone else’s fault, use the form at the right to contact an attorney.