Statistics on Car Accident Injuries

In New York State in 2011, according to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles, there were 257,066 car crashes. Also in 2011, 1,153 people were killed as a result of automobile accidents. Most of the dead — just more than 51 percent — were car drivers (597) but significant numbers of passengers (203), pedestrians (296) and bicyclists (57) were also killed.

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles breaks different kinds of crashes into three categories: crashes with human factors such as:

• Driving errors (198,818 accidents, at 77.3 percent of the total)
• Vehicle errors such as equipment failures (10,748 accidents, at 4.2 percent)
• Environmental factors such as defects in the road (57,869 accidents, at 22.5 percent)

Among the most common human factors that caused car accidents in 2011 were:

• Driver inattention or distraction (49,917 accidents) at 19.4 percent, with 125 fatalities
• Following too closely (42,700 accidents) at 16.6 percent, with 21 fatalities
• Failure to yield right-of-way (39,417 accidents) at 15.3 percent, with 144 fatalities
• Travelling at unsafe speed (27,547 accidents) at 10.7 percent, with 280 fatalities
• Improper passing or lane usage (12,534 accidents) at 4.9 percent, with 78 fatalities

Many other accidents were caused by some of the more newsworthy human factors, such as road rage (1,675 accidents with 16 fatalities) at .7 percent, texting while driving (35 accidents with no fatalities) at less than .1 percent, hand-held cell phone use (526 accidents with one fatality) at .2 percent and hands-free cell phone use (48 accidents with no deaths, at less than .1 percent.

If you were injured in a collision because of another driver’s negligence or a road or product defect, you may need an experienced New York car accident lawyer to help you obtain just compensation.