How Many Car Accidents Will You Get in Over Your Life?
Let’s face it: getting into a car accident isn’t fun. We all hope to avoid them and yet almost no driver will go their entire life without being in a collision. But how many car accidents will you get in over your life? According to data from the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America, the average driver will file a claim for a motor vehicle crash about once every 17.9 years. This means that over your driving life from say, age 16 to age 85, you are likely to experience three to four accidents.
This doesn’t mean that any or all of the accidents you are involved in will be your fault. For example, if you are rear-ended four times in your life; you may not have been at fault for any of these accidents. For some drivers, all four accidents may be their fault and others will experience a mixed bag. The interesting thing is that in many states, a driver can be in a car accident that is partially their fault and partially the fault of the other driver. Washington State is a comparative fault state, which means that fault can be shared in a personal injury case. A driver may only be awarded damages proportionate to the percentage of fault of the other driver and nothing for the amount of fault that they contributed.
If you were involved in a car accident and you were seriously injured, it is in your interest to contact an experienced car accident attorney. This is especially true if you may have been partially at-fault for the accident. The injury lawyer will carefully assess the details of your accident, review the police report and speak to any witnesses in order to help determine the percentage of fault among the parties.
What does the average car accident look like?
Car accidents range in severity from a minor collision in a parking lot to a multi-car pileup on the freeway. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, rear-end collisions are the most common type of car crash on U.S. roads, accounting for 29 percent of all accidents.
The most common causes of fatal collisions are alcohol (40 percent), speeding (30 percent) and reckless driving (33 percent).
According to driverknowledge.com, there are an average of six million car accidents in the United States every year. Seventy-two percent of these accidents result in property damage, which is usually damage to the vehicles involved in the accident and/or to personal items inside the cars, and/or damage to other property caused by the accident such as road signs, buildings, etc. Out of these accidents, 27 percent of them cause non-fatality injuries. This translates to about three million people injured; two million of them permanently. The fatality rate is six percent, which means that we lose about 360,000 people to traffic accidents each year.
Seek the help of a car accident attorney
If you or a loved one was injured because of the negligence of another, contact a personal injury lawyer to discuss your legal rights. Let an experienced car accident attorney fight for the full compensation that you deserve. It is not uncommon to receive a settlement from the insurance company that is five to ten times larger with the help of a lawyer. Call the personal injury lawyers at Tario & Associates, P.S. in Bellingham, WA today for a FREE consultation! We have been representing residents of Whatcom County, Skagit County, Island County and Snohomish County since 1979. You will pay nothing up front and no attorney fees at all unless we recover damages for you!
