Motor Vehicle Crash Statistics from the NHTSA

When analyzing motor vehicle crashes across the United States there is one government agency we can look to for accurate statistics and understanding. The agency is the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) which was established by the Highway Safety Act of 1970.  That agency oversees and directs the Highway safety and consumer program established over the last 40 or so years by a couple of federal laws. 

This agency is dedicated and strives to achieve the highest standards for cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles as well as safety for our roadways. It tries to prevent crashes, track them and reduce the costs associated with them.  A major goal for this agency is to reduce the number of serious injuries and the number of auto or motor vehicle deaths per year.  Motor vehicle crashes remain a leading cause of death in America, no matter what age group of individuals, and costs more than $230 billion annually.

NHTSA sets the safety standards for motor vehicle equipment and motor vehicles, investigates safety defects and makes sure that products meet safety standards. This agency also enforces the regulations involving vehicle class, odometer fraud and fuel economy.

The interesting information regarding severe auto injury crashes compiled by this federal agency makes statistics easier to come by, for example: in 2009 there was a record low number of highway deaths since 1950, with 33,808 on record for 2009 (a 10% drop from the year before) compared to 33,186 in 1950.

According to this government agency as well as the Center for Disease Control's data, and the government agencies that track motor vehicle crashes, tallies and serious injuries, indicate motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for American individuals between the ages of 3 and 34.

There are four major causes for motor vehicle crashes; driver error or negligent driving is the leading cause in the area of 95% The other 5% include the other three major reasons for auto related accidents across the country (and the world, for that matter), those being road design/maintenance, road conditions and mechanical problems or issues.

Mechanical issues or problems that cause an auto accident include the following most common causes – wheels, brakes and tires. Mechanical failure usually occurs with older vehicles that have drum brakes when heat causes brake failure.  Newer vehicles can have brake failure when the brake fluid is low or gone or the brake shoes and pads have not been maintained or replaced as needed.

Auto accidents involving the road design or maintenance typically deal with poor signage or planning of the road. The design is a problem when there are sharp turns, blind turns, blocked signs and diversions for the driver because of construction. You can see that driver error is a component under this category for auto accidents. 

Road conditions can also cause car, truck and motorcycle accidents. For trucks and cars involved in accidents we typically see snow and ice in the winter and during the other months; potholes, cracks, worn away roads and other such conditions can cause a crash.

Again the major reason for motor vehicle accidents is poor driving performance or stated another way “negligent driving”. Negligence is driving in an unreasonable fashion and under this topic, a motor vehicle collision which causes severe injury or death.  Types of negligent driving typically include driving too fast, unsafely or constantly changing lanes, failing to use turn signals, driving too close to the vehicle in front, failing to yield the right-of-way to other motor vehicles, failure to abide by traffic signals, and as always making the list, driving while impaired which could include alcohol or other drugs.

Over the last few years we've seen a huge increase with drivers being distracted by operating their cell phones. There are many, many documented cases of serious motor vehicle crashes involving life-threatening injury where the other driver was texting while operating a motor vehicle. Whether it’s texting, checking or sending e-mails, or reading information on a handheld device, statistics state that texting and driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving.

CNBC wrote an article about an experiment that the researches at Car and Driver Magazine performed to document the increased danger of texting and driving compared to drinking and driving.

The basic outline of the experiment was this: A car was rigged with a red light that would go off at random intervals to alert the driver to brake.  The test would be performed by the driver when sober, then when legally drunk at .08 BAC, then while reading an email and lastly, while sending a text.  The results are clear:

Unimpaired:  .54 seconds to brake

Legally drunk: add 4 feet

Reading an e-mail: add 36 feet

Sending a text: add 70 feet

http://www.cnbc.com/id/31545004/Texting_And_Driving_Worse_Than_Drinking_and_Driving