1. Distracted Driving. The number one cause of car accidents is not a criminal that drove drunk, sped or ran a red light. Distracted drivers are the top cause of car accidents in the U.S. today.
If either car in an accident is traveling faster than 43 mph, the chances of surviving a head-on crash plummet. One study shows that doubling the speed from 40 to 80 actually quadruples the force of impact.
The chances of dying in a vehicle crash? One in 103. Most Americans are still most likely to die of natural causes, chiefly heart disease (a one in six chance) or cancer (one in seven).
Approximately 70 percent of all fatal crashes on road ways with speed limits of 40 mph or less are in urban areas. Slightly less than half (47%) of all fatal crashes occurring on roadways with speed limit between 45 and 50 mph are in rural areas.
Distracted driving is the most common cause of road accidents in the United States, resulting in more crashes every year than speeding, drunk driving, and other major accident causes.
Here are the 10 states with the most fatal car accidents:
- Texas (3,305)
- California (3,259)
- Florida (2,915)
- Georgia (1,407)
- North Carolina (1,321)
- Pennsylvania (1,103)
- Ohio (996)
- Tennessee (974)
According to auto insurance industry experts, the average driver will be a car accident once every 18 or so years. This means that, over the course of lifetime, the average motorist will be in about 4 car accidents.
CDC estimates that the burden of illness during the 2018–2019 season included an estimated 35.5 million people getting sick with influenza, 16.5 million people going to a health care provider for their illness, 490,600 hospitalizations, and 34,200 deaths from influenza (Table 1).
But, not all risks faced in life can be accurately estimated. Many people would like to know their odds of dying in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
| Lifetime odds of death for selected causes, United States, 2018 |
|---|
| Cause of Death | Odds of Dying |
|---|
| Heart disease | 1 in 6 |
| Cancer | 1 in 7 |
| All preventable causes of death | 1 in 25 |
US States With the Most Car Accidents
- Florida is the state with the most car accidents, but Texas had the most fatal accidents in 2018.
- Around six million automobile collisions occur in the US every year.
- The leading causes of collisions throughout the country are speeding, distracted driving, and driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
