How much do you know about car accidents while driving across North America?
(Fotolia)
(Epoch Times reporter Zhou Yuedi, Chu Fangming reported in Toronto) Living in North America, most people can drive and have the opportunity to drive out. What if you had to guess how many crashes there are on an average day in the Toronto area, including the DVP and Gardiner (but not the 400 series highways)? How much can you say? 50? 75? 100 or 158? Between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2011, there were almost 579,000 collisions. And these are just those registered with the police.
Who is more likely to have a car accident? What is the cause of the car accident? What weather and conditions are most likely to cause a car accident? Will the driver who has never been in an accident since he started driving now sit back and relax? Not necessarily.
Never been in a car accident? Is it luck, or was it not the right time? “If you always walk by the water, your feet will get wet.” According to auto insurance industry estimates, drivers are likely to make a car accident claim approximately once every 17.9 years. This data means that if you are an ordinary driver, whether you like it or not, you are likely to be within that probability.
If you got your driver’s license at age 16, you’re likely to be in at least one major or minor car accident before you turn 34. Over the course of your long driving career, you may experience 3 or 4 car accidents.
Of course, these crashes were not fatal crashes. According to the National Safety Council, there are about 10 million car accidents every year, ranging from two-car collisions in parking lots to multiple-car rear-end collisions. In 2009, there were three fatal accidents for every 1,000 automobile accidents. If you crash a car, there will obviously be a cost. More than 2 million people are injured in crashes of all types every year.
What kind of temperature and climate are most likely to cause car accidents?
So which day of the week is most likely to cause a car accident? It seems not surprising that car accidents occur in rainy and snowy weather, but is there a relationship between car accidents and temperature?
Government data shows that the more rainfall each month in summer, the more car accidents there are. Severe cold and snowstorms are most likely to cause car accidents. Peak accident times are during the coldest months of the year, every Friday, and every day after get off work.
Data from the Canadian Meteorological Service and the Ontario government show that more rainfall per month in the summer tends to lead to more accidents. For example, the rainfall in June 2010 reached the peak of the year, nearly 200 millimeters, and the number of crashes in that month was also the highest in the second and third quarters.
Although the monthly snowfall in winter is less than 50 mm, the average temperature is low, so the number of accidents is higher than in summer. The average temperature from November to January is always below 0 degrees, which is a period prone to car accidents.
This means that temperatures below 0 degrees coupled with snowstorms can easily lead to car accidents, and drivers need to be particularly careful. If there is no special need to drive, it is best not to drive.
The Ontario government’s latest Annual Road Safety Report (ORSAR) shows that 80.6% of accidents occurred on sunny days. In addition, there are more car accidents on rainy days than on snowy days.
In 2010, a total of 21,419 car accidents occurred on rainy days, while only 15,683 car accidents occurred on snowy days. There were as many as 42 fatal car accidents on rainy days, almost twice as many as on snowy days.
Which month, day and time have the most car accidents?
The latest “Road Safety Report” shows that the peak period for car accidents is from November to January in winter. After the cold winter, the number of car accidents suddenly dropped significantly.
The month with the most car accidents was December, with 21,720 cases, accounting for 10.1% of the whole year, followed by January. December is also the peak period for Christmas shopping, so people should pay special attention to road conditions as they prepare for the holidays.
The month with the most fatal car accidents is October, followed by July. March has the fewest car accidents, and April has the fewest deaths.
Car crashes are higher every weekday than on weekends. The number of crashes is highest on the last day of the workday, and then drops off significantly on the weekends.
The day with the most accidents was Friday, with 36,621 cases, accounting for 17.0% of the year, followed by Thursday. The highest number of deaths occurred on Thursday. Wednesday had the fewest deaths, and Sunday had the fewest car accidents.
The peak time of day for car accidents is during the off-duty hours (3 to 6 p.m.), when people go to work and there are not as many car accidents. The hours with the fewest accidents are from 12 am to 6 am.
The time period with the most accidents was from 5 to 6 pm, with 18,413 cases, accounting for 8.5%, followed by 4 to 5 pm. The most deaths occurred between 3 and 4 pm, accounting for 8.8%. The hours with the fewest car accidents are between 4 and 5 a.m., and the hours with the fewest deaths are between 12 p.m. and 1 a.m.
This means that people should pay special attention to traffic safety after working or studying for the week on Friday and after finishing their work day at 5 o’clock every night.
Three groups of people with high risk of car accidents
- teen driver
Statistics show that teenage drivers are four times more likely to be involved in car accidents than adults. The main reason is that teenage drivers are young and energetic and are most likely to speed, drink and drive, drive at night, drive distracted, follow other cars, and not wear seat belts. These are extremely fatal factors. Can easily cause fatal car accidents.
For teenage drivers, being distracted while driving by others of their own age, talking on cell phones or texting while driving, are all fatal factors for teenage drivers.
According to the National Young Driver Survey (NYDS), high school drivers who speed are more than 10 miles above the posted speed limit, and speeding is defined as exceeding the speed limit by 1 mile. Of the serious crashes involving teen drivers, 21% involved speeding or fast driving.
Data shows that drivers and passengers aged 16 to 24 are among the least likely to use seat belts, and wearing seat belts can reduce the fatal rate of car accidents by 45%. According to NHTSA data, 56% of drivers and passengers aged 16 to 20 who were killed in car accidents in 2009 were not wearing seat belts.
2. Elderly drivers
Statistics show that drivers over the age of 75 are the second largest group of drivers who are most likely to be involved in car accidents, after teenage drivers. Although drivers over the age of 65 drive slower and safer than regular drivers, they are the second largest group of people killed in car accidents.
3. Bored Driver
British scientists have found that bored drivers are more dangerous behind the wheel. Being bored while driving can lead to distracted driving, speeding, hurried or dangerous driving. This type of bored driver is 1 to 1.5 times more likely to cause a car accident than other drivers.
6 key points to avoid car accidents
A car accident happens in an instant. Avoiding some of the factors that are most likely to cause a car accident is crucial to ensuring personal safety and reducing car insurance premiums.
1. Driving while unconscious. Fatal car accidents can occur because drivers are confused due to drunk driving and taking drugs. In the United States, 1 in 3 fatal car accidents involves an impaired driver.
2. Driving during dangerous times. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), accidents are most likely to occur between 0:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Of all fatal crashes during these three hours, 66% involved drunk driving.
3. Use mobile phone while driving. NHTSA data shows that in 2009, 995 of the 30,797 fatal crashes were caused by drivers using cell phones while driving; 5,500 traffic fatalities involved drivers who were distracted.
4. Speeding. Nearly 1 out of 3 fatal car accidents are attributed to drivers speeding or driving too fast. Speeding is the most likely cause of car accidents.
5. Driving in remote places. Among fatal car accidents, the rate of accidents caused by driving in remote places is 30% higher than that of driving in cities.
6. Collision with a deer. In sparsely populated areas, 150 people are killed and 10,000 injured each year in vehicle collisions with deer.
(Editor: Yue Yi)