Car Accidents – Accident Statistics

Car accident statistics are simply mind-boggling. In 2002, there were an estimated 6,316,000 car accidents, 2,900,000 injuries and 42,815 people were killed in car accidents in the United States. On average, 115 people die each day in car accidents in the United States, which is one person every 13 minutes!

Car accidents are the leading cause of death for people between ages 6 and 27. 63 per cent of car accident fatalities are due to passengers who were not wearing seat belts and 38 per cent of car accident fatalities involve alcohol. The states with the highest number of car accidents annually are: California, Texas and Florida. In fact, the total annual economic cost of car accidents in the United States is over $150 billion.

One important statistic that should influence the type of insurance people purchase is the percentage of uninsured drivers on the roads. Some states already require drivers to purchase uninsured motorist insurance, however, for those states that do not, the following list of states with the highest percentage of uninsured drivers should provide some guideline as to whether you should purchase uninsured motorists insurance coverage. They are: Colorado 34 per cent, Mississippi 29 per cent, Alabama 28 per cent, New Mexico 27 per cent and California 26 per cent. In terms of frequency of uninsured motorist claims, it has been found that claims in large cities are much higher than in rural areas.