People are injured in motor vehicle accidents every day on New Jersey roads and highways. Driving while distracted or drunk are major contributors to car accidents nationally, as are severe weather conditions and loss of control. A number of different associations and agencies keep track of local and national motor vehicle accident statistics and their findings can be helpful to increase driver awareness.
Drinking and driving still among major causes
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Association, more than 10,100 fatalities happen annually due to drunk driving. Even a small amount of alcohol may be enough to impair a driver’s faculties. Likewise, an organization called Driving Tests has found that around 29 people are killed every day in drunk driving crashes. Indeed, roughly 30% of all car accidents nationally involve at least one driver with a BAC over the legal limit of .08%.
Distracted driving especially deadly for teens
Another area of preventable crashes comes from distracted driving. The NHTSA car crash statistics show that 14% of all car accidents are caused by a distracted driver. Teenagers are the most likely to be involved in deadly distracted driving crashes. According to Allianz, around 481,000 people use cell phones while behind the wheel.
Rain and snow make driving dangerous
Bad weather can make otherwise safe travel immediately dangerous, and the Federal Highway Administration released data indicating that adverse weather causes around 21% of crashes. Statistics show that 70% of bad weather crashes happen when roads are wet and 46% happen in the rain. Sleet and snow are responsible for 18% of bad weather motor vehicle accidents.
Increased awareness can reduce danger on the road
The Wandering RV reports that there are six million car accidents per year nationwide. That breaks down to approximately 16,000 crashes every single day. Driving is a dangerous endeavor but people tend to lose sight of that fact because they drive so consistently without incident. Increasing awareness among drivers and avoiding drunk or distracted driving can lower the chance of a crash.