Accident Facts & Statistics for 2021
- Around 2 million drivers in car accidents experience permanent injuries every year. (Driver Knowledge, 2019)
- Crash risk is highest during the first year that drivers are licensed. (CDC, 2018)
- Out of nearly six million vehicular crashes that occur every year in the United States, approximately 22% are weather-related. (FHWA, 2017)
- Rear-end crashes are the most frequently occurring type of collision, accounting for approximately 29% of all crashes. (NHTSA, 2017)
- Tailgating is a contributing factor in more than one-third of all crashes on the road. (TeenSafe, 2018)
- Driver-related factors (i.e., error, impairment, fatigue, and distraction) were present in almost 90% of crashes. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- Certain driver performance errors, including committing a right-of-way error (with or without the yield sign), sudden or improper braking or stopping, failure to stop at a stop sign, and being unfamiliar with a vehicle or roadway, increased the risk of crashing by hundreds of times. (Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, 2016)
- In 2016, there were 6,296,000 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes in the US. (Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association, 2018) About 10 million or more crashes go unreported each year. (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2018)
- In 2010, the economic cost of motor vehicle crashes to the United States totaled $242 billion, equaling 1.6% of the real US Gross Domestic Product in 2010. (NHTSA, 2015)
- Highway-rail grade crossing collisions and pedestrian trespass on tracks together constitute over 95% of all railroad fatalities in the United States. (Federal Railroad Administration, 2019)
- Since 1972, the number of train/motor vehicle collisions in the United States has declined by 83%. (Federal Railroad Administration, 2019)
