Because we know many of our regular Rockford Personal Injury Law blog readers have military backgrounds or have a current or former member of the military in their family, we also know that our readers tend to know more about military history than the average person. Even well-informed history buffs might be surprised to learn that more Americans have died on America’s streets and highways in motor vehicle crashes since January of 2000 than were killed in World War I and World War II combined.
A recent newspaper article pointed out that more than 624,000 people were killed in crashes, which is about 90,000 more than the 535,000 American military personnel who died in the two World Wars. It should be noted that more than 30 million drivers, passengers and pedestrians were also injured in those violent roadway collisions.
The article in the Washington Post also made note of the fact that most of those crashes had one of three major causes: excess speed, a drunk driver or a distracted driver.
Let’s take a look at the grim numbers from 2000 to 2017 (the most recent year complete data is available) in each category:
- 213,000: that’s the number of fatal crashes attributed to impaired drivers in the period
- 197,000: that’s how many people were killed in crashes involving speeding
- 78,000: that’s how many have died in accidents caused by distracted drivers from 2000 to 2017
Let’s not leave another common cause of crashes out: drowsy drivers. The AAA Foundation’s 2014 study determined that about 21 percent of car crashes involved a fatigued driver.
If you have been injured or lost a loved one in a crash caused by a speeding, drunk, distracted or drowsy driver, contact a Rockford attorney experienced in obtaining full compensation for all damages in personal injury and wrongful death litigation.
