According to the United States Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, (NHTSA), 35,092 people died in motor vehicle accidents in the United States in 2015 and another estimated 2.4 million people were injured. This averages out to 4 people injured or killed in a motor vehicle accident every minute! Of those fatalities, 3,176 were in California, which was an increase of 74 deaths over 2014. This averages out to just nearly 9 automobile fatalities in California every day!
Most automobile accidents are preventable, caused by reckless or negligent driver behavior, such as:
- Speeding: Exceeding the speed limit or going too fast for road conditions caused 27 percent of 2015’s traffic fatalities.
- Drinking: In 2015, roughly 21 percent of drivers involved in fatal car accidents had a BAC of .08 or higher. They were responsible for 28 deaths per day.
Distractions: Using a smart phone, eating, drinking, to even just talking to passengers can take a driver’s attention away from the road and cause an auto accident. In 2015, 3,477 people died in distracted driving accidents.
