Before you suffered at the hands and careless actions of another driver, you may have believed that car accidents only victimized people who drove poorly or that you would simply never be in a major car accident. However, they can happen to anyone and the statistics are staggering.
According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Board, in 2014, 32,675 people lost their lives on roadways in the United States. This number actually represents a slight decrease from 2013, yet includes an increase of 2.2 percent in pedestrian fatalities. In addition, 2.34 million people were injured on the same roadways. In 2014 the estimated number of police-reported car accidents rose from the previous year mainly due to an eight percent increase in accidents that did not involve any injuries but that did cause property damage.
Despite the slight decrease in 2014, according to the National Safety Council, the year 2015 had the biggest rise in car deaths in the past 50 years. Even with improved safety features like electronic stability control and front-end crash avoidance features, injuries and deaths on American roadways are still on the rise. The same group believes that a better economy, more jobs, and cheaper gas are to blame for the spike. It is estimated that in 2015, there were 38,300 deaths and 4.4 million serious injuries on our roadways.
Deborah A.P. Hersman, the National Safety Council’s president and CEO, believes that this is a sign that Americans take their roadway safety for granted. She encourages all drivers to use their defensive driving skills and remain alert in order to reverse this upward trend in the current year. This also means drivers need to avoid mixing alcohol with driving, use seatbelts every time they are in a moving vehicle, properly restrain children in the vehicle, and avoid driving while distracted or fatigued.
While blaming a good economy and lower prices at the pump make sense, drivers should also take a look at their own driving habits and be willing to take responsibility for their own actions. An AT&T survey done in May of 2015 revealed that about 70 percent of drivers use their smartphones behind the wheel. The most common use was texting followed by other distracting activities like using email, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat as well as taking selfies, shooting videos, and participating in video chats.
It is estimated by the NSC that texting and driving raises the chances of being in a car accident by eight-fold and that accidents that occur while a driver is texting or talking on a cell phone, even with a hands-free device, make up 27 percent of all accidents.
In order to make our roadways safer for all drivers and passengers, we need to be more aware and less distracted by our phones. If you have recently been in an accident caused by a distracted driver, it may be time to hire a personal injury attorney.