In 2016, 62,471 accidents occurred in Utah, 259 of them being fatal — a total of 281 lives were lost in those accidents. With transportation being such a vital part of everyday life, it is often forgotten that lives are at such a high risk when they take the road. Personal injury lawyers can and will assist anyone that is victimized in this kind of incident, but being aware before the accident occurs will help start the initiative for drivers and passengers to be more cautious as they travel from one place to the next.
The top three most common causes of the 62,471 accidents were as follows:
- Following Too Close – 16.1%
- Failure to Yield Right of Way – 12.2%
- Speeding- 10.2%
To some, there may be a plethora of reasons as to why someone might have participated in the activities above, but with good planning and courteous driving, 30 percent of those accidents could have been reduced remarkably. Nonetheless, Examining the top three cause of accident further, we have found significant statistics involving the fatality rate that may push drivers even more to make changes.
While “Following Too Closely” was the main cause of accidents, the fatality was much lower in those accidents. On the other hand, speeding was not only the third highest cause of wrecks, but it was also the deadliest. With speeding being such a dangerous factor in these wrecks, it is interesting to note the speed at which these accidents occurred. Ascending from 30 MPH to 75 MPH, the breakdown looks like this:
- 30-35 MPH – 20.7%
- 40-45 MPH – 23.7%
- 50-55 MPH – 7.8%
- 60-65 MPH – 5%
- 70-75 MPH – 13.8%
At Robert J. DeBry and Associates, our personal injury lawyers often deal with cases that involve a fatality, but two of the more common cases that are left off the lists above are accidents that involve a DUI or distracted driving. Surprisingly, DUI accidents only occurred 2% of the time and distracted driving 5.8% of the time. This may not seem particularly extraordinary, but the fatality rate of these are. While these incidents didn’t occur as much as other accidents, the fatality jumped to 8% of all the DUI crashes and 7.2% for distracted driving wrecks—that is the fourth and sixth highest cause of death during that year (the third was being “ran off the road,” and the fifth was “overcorrection”). Not only is it unfair to everyone to drive distracted or impaired, it simply does not have place behind the wheel. That is the reason why personal injury lawyers cover an ample amount of legal cases involving those factors.
The last two reports we want to give you deal with gender and age. First, men were found in accidents more often than women, especially in fatal accidents. Of the 62,000+ accidents, 55.6% involved a male while 40.7% involved a female — 72.6% of fatal accidents involved a man compared to 26.1% that involved a woman.
The last statistic shows the top five ages that caused the most wrecks. They were as follows:
- 20-24 – 14.7%
- 15-19 – 12.8%
- 25-29 – 11.5%
- 30-34 – 10.2%
- 35-39 – 9.5% (the list continues to descend from this age on down)
Car accidents happen to everyone. Even if you are in the minority for most of these statistics, it can still happen to you. It is best to be aware of these factors and continue to drive courteously. If you are involved in an accident at no fault of your own, seek out a personal injury lawyer to help you.
Source:
Highway Safety and Utah Department of Public Safety (2016 Statistics)