When Californians take to the roads, it is unlikely that they are considering the statistical chances of being in an auto accident. There are many variables that go along with being in a crash. However, there are certain trends that arise and researchers point to when assessing when and under what circumstances a crash is likely to occur. A new study from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says that certain days of the week and times of day are more dangerous while others are safer.
According to the NHTSA study, Saturday is the riskiest day to be on the road while Tuesday is the safest. NHTSA used an Avvo study and its own statistics to formulate its report. Avvo looked the number of deaths in car accidents across the nation in 2016 and correlated that with the day and the time. It also used the total number of vehicles that are registered in the U.S. Saturdays had the most deaths, at 6,802. This was out of 37,461 crashes overall. On Tuesdays, there were 4,444 fatalities. This is the fewest for any specific day of the week. A trend was that the weekends had the highest numbers compared to other days. Fridays and Sundays were second and third after Saturday.
Time of day was also considered separately. Most fatal accidents happened between 4 p.m. and 6:59 p.m. – rush hour. It is viewed as the time at which people are commuting after work or have had a few drinks in so-called “happy hour.” DUIs are a known factor and just under 10,500 were alcohol-related. People driving at excessive speeds is problematic too. 10,111 of the fatal accidents were linked to speeding.
After a car accident, there are often injuries that require hospitalization and extensive treatment, result in lost time on the job, leaving a need for long-term care and more. This can place a financial and emotional strain on even the closest families. When there is a death, there will be funeral expenses and the need to come to grips with such an unnecessary and unexpected loss. The statistics show that the number of fatal auto accidents is rising and there are myriad factors to point to. Regardless of how and why it happened, those who have been affected should be aware of their rights to file a legal claim with help from an experienced auto accident attorney.
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