One of the major causes of largely preventable deaths is auto accidents. A third of the fatal accidents in the United States involve drunk driving on the part of one or more motorists. Excessive speed is involved in another third of the crash deaths. Neither statistic factors in the over 2 million individuals who get hurt in collisions each year.
Louisiana’s auto accident fatality rates have traditionally been higher than the national average. At the end of the last century, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted that with both men and women, the death rates from car accidents was higher here in our state than it was nationally.
Per every 100,000 people, there were 31.4% of men killed in collisions compared with 21.3% across the nation. With females, statistics indicate that there were 13.2% death rates in Louisiana from auto crashes and just 9.6% of women per 100,000 in the US died in collisions.
Since that time, many safety inventions in the auto industry have emerged, making it even easier to avoid collisions while driving. Still, it is inevitable that car accidents will occur.
Right now, there are probably fewer cars on the road than most people have seen in quite some time. In some cases, that could give motorists a false sense of security that it’s OK now to drop their guard.
But that would be a mistake because accidents happen all the time here in our state as well as elsewhere. Drivers must always remain alert to the possibility that they could get into a wreck.
If you wind up injured in a car wreck, you will need to take timely action to file a claim for damages.