It is hard to think of a time when cars did not occupy the roadways. Even harder is trying to surmise exactly how many cars occupy the world’s roadways today at any given time of day. That number is so vast that it is close to impossible to truly know the answer.
What can be safely assumed is the fact that cars do not seem to be disappearing any time soon. Sure, advances in technology may change the way cars are driven but so many cars are produced each year that it does not seem like something anyone is going to abandon using.
Add in the fact that owning and using a car provides many benefits, it is safe to say they will be around for a while. But even though a car brings many conveniences, it also brings with it a fair share of negatives.
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Car Accident Statistics
One of the biggest downsides to cars are the overwhelming number of accidents that happen each day. According to the Association for Safe International Road Travel, over 37,000 people die in car accidents in the United States each year. In addition, 2.35 million people are left injured or disabled because of car accidents.
Both numbers are staggering but it does not really hit home until you narrow it down to your state level. According to the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s most recent statistics, in 2016 there were a total of 256,482 crashes.
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Of those 256,482 motor vehicle accidents, 59,096 resulted in injury. Furthermore, 571 of those crashes ended up fatal, leading to the deaths of 602 people. This is an increase of 48 fatal crashes and 40 deaths since the previous year.
It is important to note that these numbers encompass all types of accidents on New Jersey roadways. It could have been an accident between two cars, multiple cars or a single car. It could have involved a motorcycle, tractor trailer, bicyclist or pedestrian. In fact, of the 571 fatal crashes, 70 involved motorcycles and 17 involved bicyclists.
It is a hard thing to swallow when you really take the time to look at the numbers.
And while the numbers themselves are a bit overwhelming, they end up begging the question of why these accidents happen in the first place. Unfortunately, there are a multitude of contributing factors that lead to car accidents.
For starters, one of the biggest causes of car accidents in New Jersey and the rest of the country is speeding. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding has been involved in about one-third of all motor vehicle fatalities for the past two decades. In 2016, speeding was a contributing factor in 27 percent of all fatal crashes.
Speeding is one of those things that almost every driver does, causing it to seem like it is okay to do. You may be running late and looking to get somewhere important like work on time. Or you might just be keeping up with the flow of traffic. But the truth is that speeding is dangerous regardless of the situation and creates a great risk to your safety and others’ safety on the road.
Speeding will reduce the effectiveness of your vehicle’s protection equipment, increases necessary stopping distance, increases the chance of a severe injury in the event of an accident, and creates a greater potential for loss of control of your vehicle. Those consequences increase exponentially when road conditions change due to rain, snow, or other dangerous road conditions.
Another big contributing factor when it comes to car accidents is cell phone usage. It falls under the category of distracted driving with things like adjusting climate controls, messing with the car stereo, or being distracted by others in the vehicle. When it comes down to it though, cell phone usage trumps all of those.
New Jersey’s more recent statistics related to cell phone usage date back to 2015 and also come from the New Jersey Department of Transportation. Those statistics point out that 1,668 crashes were contributed to hand held cell phone use and 1,903 crashes came as a result of hands free cell phone usage.
Accidents Caused by Cell Phone Usage
In total, that is 3,517 crashes because of cell phone usage. Of those crashes, 1,401 people ended up injured and five ended up dead. And that is only one aspect of distracted driving as a whole.
Factor in the rest of the distractions that divert your attention away from the task of safe driving and you are looking at a lot more accidents, injuries and fatalities. In fact, in 2015, 391,000 people were injured and 3,477 were killed in car accidents involving distracted drivers across the country.
Distracted driving is dangerous because it simply takes your attention away from driving safely. On average, it takes about five seconds to send or read a text. Doing so while traveling at 55 mph is equivalent to traveling the distance of a football field with your eyes closed. As is evidenced by the numbers, a lot can happen in that stretch of distance and time.
Drinking and Driving
One last contributing factor to car accidents worth mentioning is drunk driving, which is one of the worst infractions you could make as a motorist. From a numbers standpoint, in 2016, 28 percent of motor vehicle traffic fatalities were caused by alcohol impaired driving. That comes out to a total of 10,497 deaths from drunk driving. In New Jersey, 137 people died in alcohol impaired car accidents in 2016.
Drunk driving is a serious and terrible act to commit because it points to a complete lack of care towards yourself and others on the road. In many situations, drunk drivers have greatly affected the lives of others and their loved ones, simply because they chose to drink alcohol and drive.
And just like the other aforementioned contributing factors to car accidents, there are plenty of laws in place to help curb the amount of drunk driving, but it still happens and still leads to many accidents on the road.
As long as there are cars on the road in New Jersey there are bound to be car accidents. And since cars are not going away any time soon it is up to everyone on the road to do their best to practice safe driving. You and everyone else on the road all want to reach a destination safely and in a timely manner.
No one wants to be in an accident or contribute to an accident. The only way to avoid such situations, especially on crowded New Jersey roadways, is to avoid distractions, follow the speed limit and never drive impaired. It is not too much to ask of each motorist and can go a long way in reducing New Jersey car accident statistics.
