Accident Lawyers Reveal Crash Statistics for New York

There’s no question that you can minimize the chances of traffic accidents by using defensive techniques, turning off your smartphone, and avoiding alcoholic beverages while driving. Enough New Yorkers are practicing these safety recommendations that the total number of crashes went down by about 2.5 percent. This is from 2010 to 2011, which represents the latest data from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles.

The bad news is that for 2011, the state suffered from 307,550 total crashes.

• Fatal crashes accounted for 1,077 incidents.
• Of the 1,153 individuals killed, 51 percent were drivers, 17 percent were passengers, 25 percent were pedestrians, and 5 percent were bicyclists.
• About 128,036 crashes had non-fatal injuries. Of the 177,445 hurt, 60 percent were drivers, 27 percent were passengers, 9 percent were pedestrian, and 3 percent were bicyclists.
• Property damage was reported in 178,437 crashes.
• Only about a third of the crashes involved a single vehicle. Most accidents affected multiple vehicles.
• Over 56 percent of the drivers involved in crashes were men.

About 99,803 of the drivers were aged 21 to 29, followed by the 92,040 in the 40-to-49 age group. The safest drivers were those 70 and over with only 30,309, although this age group also does the least amount o driving. They were followed by the 44,083 drivers aged 50 to 59. The most common cause of crashes where a cause was determined was driver inattention or distraction. It represented 20 percent of the incidents.

Following too closely was next with 16 percent, with failure to yield the right-of-way ranking third at 15 percent.

Speeding represented 11 percent of the accidents and alcohol only 3 percent.

As your accident lawyers, we urge you to take these numbers to heart when you drive, so you can avoid becoming one of the statistics for this year. If you do happen to get into an accident, please contact us right away to see how we can help you.