Although several law firms make claims that there are millions of car accidents in the United States every year, there is no verifiable source for these claims. So, the focus here will be on fatalities, which is what truly matters in the first place. The most recent fully verified information is from 2021. The number of people who died in crashes in 2021 is 42,939. For purposes of this article, the terms “men,” “boys,” “women,” and girls include people who identify as cisgender, transgender, and genderqueer. There is also a group of “unknowns,” who could be nonbinary people or accident victims who were, for one reason or another, not identified at the time of their accidents.
Age and Gender
Men died from car accidents at a rate nearly three times that of women, and men between the ages of 25 and 29 had the highest death rate. Girls aged 12 and younger had the lowest rate. In total, there were 39,508 crashes that involved 61,332 vehicles. Between 2020 and the end of 2021, there was a 10% increase in both crashes and deaths. About 3,500 of the drivers in 2021 deaths were attributed to distracted driving.
Race and Ethnicity
Because of the vast diversity of United States citizen, the raw numbers won’t mean much. Instead, rate of death per 100 million miles traveled is a much better indicator than just raw numbers.
The following data show a strong correlation between raceand a propensity for fatal vehicle crashes:
• Black people who were not Hispanic died at a rate double that of white people.
• When it comes to bicycles that were hit, Black people died at three times the rate of white people.
• At night, the death rate for Blacks was even higher, particularly when it came to pedestrians.
• Regarding only vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, Black people died at a rate 73% higher than white people.
• There are seven times as many white people in the United States as there are Black people, which makes these higher rates that much more alarming.
Information for 2023 is only a projection, and the preliminary data from the period January through June indicates a 3.3% drop from 2022. In the 10 regions of the United States, the rate decreased in eight of them. Only the upper northwest/Alaska and the region surrounding Washington, D.C., climbed.
Safer Roads for All
Car accident deaths impact people of all ages, genders, and races. Cities and states are working to make driving, walking, and biking safer. Drivers have a responsibility to do their part too. Eliminating distractions, obeying speed limits, and avoiding driving while intoxicated are steps we can all take to reduce the number of lives lost.
