Auto accidents happen all the time on Maryland’s roads and highways, and unfortunately some of these crashes are quite serious in nature. The following are some statistics that provide some insights into car accidents at a local and national level:

• There are approximately 16 million car crashes every year in the United States. The vast majority of these accidents go unreported to police. In 2010, for example, there were only 5,419,000 traffic accidents reported.
• Car accidents have a $250 billion impact on the economy, with most of that cost accounted for by vehicle property damage.
• Approximately 115 people die each day in truck, car and motorcycle accidents across the country. Car wrecks make up about 37 percent of the fatal injuries suffered by children every year, making them the leading cause of death for kids.
• Even for people ages four to 34, traffic accidents are still the number one leading cause of death.
• In a somewhat surprising statistic from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, motor vehicle accidents were the top cause of death in the workplace in 2015.
• Of people who are killed in fatal car accidents, 55 percent of men die in single-car crashes, compared to just one-third of women. Many experts believe this is because men are far more likely to drive recklessly and at high speeds.
• The single greatest predictor of the extent of a driver’s injury in an accident is the speed of the vehicle, followed in order by the type of accident, the victim’s age, whether the injured party was wearing a seatbelt, the vehicle’s mass and the driver’s gender.
• In Maryland, 8 percent of jury awards in auto accident lawsuits are worth more than $250,000.
• Jaywalking is the cause of 39 percent of pedestrian accidents in Maryland’s suburbs.

If you or a loved one have been injured in an auto accident, meet with the skilled La Plata personal injury lawyers at Mudd, Mudd & Fitzgerald, P.A.