Interesting Car Accident Statistics

According to a World Health Organization’s 2020 report, car accidents are prevalent, with approximately 1.35 million fatalities occurring annually. However, that’s not the whole story…. here are five bizaree statistics

1. Gun self-defense uses trumps car accident fatalities

It could be surprising, but more people use guns for self-defense than those who died from car-related accidents. In the U.S. alone, there are somewhere between 2.1 to 2.5 million gun self-defense usage yearly.

When one compares that to car accident mortality numbers, it’s a wide gap. To elaborate, according to the WHO, there are approximately 1.35 million mortalities from car accidents worldwide. Additionally, 93% of these accidents occurred in low and middle-income countries, leaving only 7% to more prominent nations.

2. Car accidents as a notorious child killer

It’s a saddening fact, but many children under age 15 died from unexpected injuries-additionally, the most common of these injuries being car accidents. From 2018 to 2019, 1,253 children under age 13 passed away as car passengers in accidents.

From the same data, between 2010 and 2019, the government recorded 6,529 car-related fatalities as pedestrians. On the other hand, according to The New York Times, most child passengers died due to not wearing seat belts.

3. Motorcycles crash more than cars

According to a report, motorcycle crashes occur around five times more than car accidents. From 2009-2018, 2.1% per 100,000 registered vehicles were motorcycles involved in fatal accidents. On the other hand, only 0.4% were passenger cars. Also, in 2018 alone, around 82,000 from 8,666,185 registered motorcycles inflicted accidental injuries.

Regarding expenses, motorcycle crashes cost six times on healthcare costs than car crashes. Lastly, some common causes are hazardous roads, collisions, alcohol influence, overspeeding, and lane splitting.

4. Higher temperature will cause more fatalities than car accidents

According to an article, the hot temperature will cause more fatalities than car accidents. Moreover, an excerpt from a study states that a hotter climate will incur more injuries. In detail, as global warming goes further, mortality is also projected to rise.

Additionally, a study from 2016 linked high temperature to unintentional injuries. Aside from heat-induced mishaps and diseases, some research also relates hot weather to more traffic accidents. Air temperature, humidity, wind speed, rain, and fog are also some road weather risks.

5. More fatalities from preventable deaths than car accidents

Interestingly, more people died from medical malpractice than car accidents. To elaborate, in 2017, 251,000 patients died from preventable deaths, a lot more than the 33,000 to 38,000 car fatalities in the U.S. alone yearly.

Digging from the second study, one can see that medical malpractice deaths are more common in the U.S. than in some developed countries. Lastly, one of the common causes is medication errors, where 99,431 patients got medicine poisoning from the year 2000 to 2017.