Car accidents are responsible for a high number of fatalities every year in the United States. There are a number of reasons car accidents occur. From poor weather conditions, to distracted driving, the reasons why cars crash on the road are as varied as the people driving. Alcohol also plays a big factor in a high percentage of the car accidents that happen each year. Drivers under the influence of alcohol are a major hazard on the road in New York, and throughout the United States. Texting is also a big problem that is causing car accidents everywhere, and drivers who are accessing social media while driving continue to drive while distracted.
Laws in the State of New York attempt to help control distracted driving, by imposing fines on drivers caught texting while operating a motor vehicles. Younger drivers face more restrictions, being unable to call on a cell phone while driving if they are a junior operator. While new laws to control distracted driving is a good start, the real control starts with driver education. Drivers need to take responsibility for paying attention while they are operating a motor vehicle for car accidents to go on the decline.
Car Accident Statistics in the United States
- Driving too fast caused accidents more than 9,600 times in 2013 within the United States.
- Drinking and driving is a major cause of accidents every year in the United States. In 2013, drunk drivers caused over ten thousand, seven hundred fatalities.
- Missing red lights is also a problem, and it caused up to two thousand injuries in the United States in 2013.
- On average, missing red lights will kill approximately 900 people during the year.
- 37% of drivers have reported that they have fallen asleep at the wheel at one point in their driving career.
- Drivers that are extremely tired cause fatalities in about 21% of the total accidents reported.
- Distracted drivers killed over 3,100 people in the United States in 2013.
- Cell phone use for texting, calling others, or accessing the internet causes up to ten percent of all the fatal accidents in the US every year.
- 16 to 24 year olds cause roughly six percent of all the accidents that occur because of cell phone use.
- 70 year old drivers and older cause the fewest accidents on the road because of excessive cell phone use.
- The number of fatalities caused by distracted driving has been increasing. Close to half of the drivers on the road who are younger than thirty have accessed the internet while operating a motor vehicle at the same time.
- In 36% of the accidents that occurred in 2013, drivers were distracted by social media websites, accessing the internet as they were driving.
New York Car Accident Statistics
- 497,857 drivers in the State of New York were involved in car accidents in 2013.
- 1,188 people were killed in New York in car accidents during 2013.
- 625 of those people killed were the drivers involved in the car accidents during 2013.
- 178 passengers were killed in New York during 2013.
- 40 bicyclists were killed in the State of New York after accidents with motor vehicles.
- The number of pedestrians killed by motor vehicle drivers in New York State during 2013 was 344.
- 169,177 people were reported injured as the result of a motor vehicle accident in 2013.
- 59% of the crashes involved two cars.
- 33% of the motor vehicle crashes in 2013 involved only one car.
- 8% of the motor vehicle crashes in New York in 2013 involved three or more vehicles.
- Alcohol was involved in 7,857 crashes in 2013.
- Unsafe speed accounted for over 28,000 of the accidents in New York in 2013.