Taking a Look Behind The Prevalence of Car Accidents In The United States
The typical car crash is all too common here in the United States in just about any part of the country that you look at. After all, there are as many as six million car accidents over the course of a single year. And when it comes to the car crash, there are many terrible and awful things that can result from them.
In car crashes throughout the country, more than three million people will become injured to varying extents. Some of these injuries will be relatively mild, not extending far past whiplash or maybe some bruising, but others can be life changing. From paralysis to continuing problems with chronic pain, the consequences of a car crash can last for years – or even a lifetime, changing the lives of the victims in ways that they never imagined and on a permanent basis.
Of course, injury is not always the worst outcome of a car crash. Fatalities among car crashes and motor vehicle accidents are also high, with data showing that at least thirty thousand people die every year as a result of car accidents and other such motor vehicle accidents. In some years, such as in the year of 2015, more than thirty five thousand people will die. In the year of 2017, as many as forty thousand people became fatalities of car crashes.
As any car accident lawyer can tell you, part of the reason that there are so many car accidents in the United States is due to the fact that there are simply so many licensed drivers out and on the road. In fact, more than two hundred and fifteen million people across the country now have their licenses. And it is no secret that the country of the United States has more cars throughout it than any other country in the world, developed or not.
And car accident lawyers deal with a high volume of car accidents that are preventable as well. While not every car crash can be easily prevented, such as in the case of severe weather and the poor visibility and often unsafe driving conditions that result from it, there are many types of car crashes that can most definitely be avoided. In fact, speeding, drunk driving, and distracted driving currently make up the top three causes of such preventable car accidents all throughout the country.
Drunk driving is particularly prevalent, with up three hundred thousand people getting behind the wheel while they are intoxicated each and every day in this country alone. Unfortunately, less than four thousand of these drunk drivers are actually arrested, leaving the rest on the road where they continue to pose a significant threat to themselves as well as others. In fact, a new person is injured in an incident or car crash that is related to drunk driving for every two minutes that pass.
Aside from drunk driving, driving while under the influence of other drugs and intoxicating substances, both illegal as well as legal, has proven to be incredibly dangerous as well. From marijuana to prescription medications to harder drugs, driving while under the influence is never a good idea. It even leads to around sixteen percent of all car accidents and car crashes that are sustained here in the United States.
Distracted driving also leads to a great number of car accidents and resulting injuries and fatalities. In fact, driving while distracted increases your chance of getting into a car accident by more than three times, more than five times, more than ten times. And driving while distracted is often just as dangerous – if not sometimes even more so – than driving while under the influence of intoxicating substances.
For bicyclists, the chances of being killed in a car crash are particularly high, with data showing that bicyclists alone make up nearly two and half percent of all of the traffic related deaths that occur here in the United States. In the year of 2016 alone, nearly eight hundred and fifty total bicyclists lost their lives in car crashes and car accidents of varying natures all throughout the Untied States of America.
