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Accident-Related Costs Estimated at $99 billion a Year

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has come up with an estimate of the annual costs of traffic accidents.  The agency has come up with a staggering figure of $99 billion a year.  According to the agency, that is the total cost from the medical expenses resulting from these accidents, as well as the loss of productivity from these crashes.  That $99 billion figure translates into approximately $500 a year for every licensed motorist in the United States.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention used data from 2005 for the study.  That year, the total costs from fatal and nonfatal accidents were $70 billion for people riding in motor vehicles, including cars and light pickup trucks.  For motorcyclists, the cost was about $12 billion and for pedestrians and bicyclists, the cost was about $10 billion and $5 billion respectively.

Costs arising from fatal accident-related injuries touched $58 billion.  Medical costs from nonfatal injuries touched $28 billion.  The cost of injuries involving people, who were treated in emergency rooms and then released, amounted to $14 billion.  70% of the accident fatalities that year and 52% of the injuries involved men.  Men are much more likely to be killed or injured in accidents than women.  Injuries and deaths involving men constituted about 74% of all the accident-related costs that year.

Teen and young motorists accounted for approximately 28% of all fatal and nonfatal auto accident injuries, as well as 31% of all costs related to these accidents.  This is in spite of the fact that teenage and young motorists represent just about 14% of the American population.  Motorcyclists accounted for 6% of all accident fatalities and injuries, but they had a much higher proportional share of the cost, at 12%.  That is very likely because of the severity of the injuries sustained in motorcycle accidents.

Pedestrians also had much higher costs associated with injuries.  These people only accounted for about 5% of all accident-related injuries in 2005, but accounted for 10% of all costs.  Pedestrians have no protection in the event of an accident, and are much more likely to suffer serious injuries, and therefore end up with greater medical expenses.

The CDC is recommending greater focus in certain key areas in order to reduce accident-related fatalities and injuries every year, and reduce the costs associated with these.  Not surprisingly, to California auto accident lawyers, the CDC is recommending greater focus on teen motorist safety by implementing stronger GDL policies.  It is also calling for greater use of child safety seats, as well as enhanced education programs to teach parents about the right way to install car seats.  Besides, the CDC is promoting primary seat belt laws that are currently in place in most states in the country, enhanced seatbelt enforcement programs like the highly successful Click It or Ticket campaign in so many states, laws mandating and motorcycle helmets, as well as DUI sobriety checkpoints.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of traffic accidents. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not representing any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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