What Causes Traffic Accidents and Fatalities in New York?

Most people know that traffic accidents are responsible for quite a few injuries and fatalities each year, but many don’t realize that traffic accidents are the leading cause of death for Americans age 2 to 34. There are a myriad of accident causes, everything from intoxicated or distracted drivers to excessive speed and aggressive driving. By far the leading cause of fatal accidents on New York roads is excessive speed, which only contributes to 10% of all accidents but can be blamed for 29% of all fatalities.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is responsible for maintaining traffic accident and fatality information for the country and each of the 50 states. This enormous wealth of information aids key decision makers in understanding the main threats to highway traffic safety. Each state also maintains their own state-specific statistics, and reviewing both the national numbers and the state numbers is often illuminating.

National traffic accident fatalities and injuries

The most recent complete set of data available for analysis from the NHTSA is from 2006. That year, 42,642 people lost their lives in motor vehicle crashes, and 2,575,000 were injured. It is hard to appreciate those hard numbers, however, so the NHTSA presents the statistics in a more meaningful way. At the 2006 fatality rate, an average of 117 people died each day in motor vehicle crashes, which means that one person dies every 12 minutes. Thinking of the traffic fatality rate makes it a little more real, and certainly more chilling.

In New York in 2006 there were 1,456 traffic accident fatalities, a 2% increase from the previous year. However the fatality rate for New York – calculated as the number of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled – is actually better in New York than for America as a whole. New York has a fatality rate of 1.03, compared to 1.41 for the entire United States.

Sample of traffic accident fatalities:

• Passenger cars: 17,800 United States, 571 New York (3.2% of total)
• Light trucks: 12,721 United States, 277 New York (2.2% of total)
• Motorcycles: 4,810 United States, 192 New York (4% of total)
• Pedestrians: 4,784 United States, 312 New York (6.5% of total)
• Pedal-cyclists: 773 United States, 45 New York (5.8% of total)

Human contributing factors and fatality rates

There are a myriad of different factors that cause traffic accidents. Below is a list from the New York State Traffic Safety Data Reports website showing accident contributing factors, ordered by the number of accidents caused:

1. Driver Inattention/Distraction: 35,546

2. Failure to Yield R.O.W.: 30,607

3. Following Too Closely: 29,544

4. Unsafe Speed: 20,456

5. Traffic Control Disregarded: 9,552

6. Passing or Lane Usage Improper: 7,581

7. Alcohol Involvement: 7,547

8. Turning Improperly: 7,012

9. Unsafe Lane Changing: 6,922

10. Reaction to Other Uninvolved Vehicle: 6,354

11. Driver Inexperience: 5,165

12. Pedestrian/Bicyclist/Other Ped Error/Confusion: 4,698

13. Failure to Keep Right: 4,362

14. Backing Unsafely: 4,359

15. Fell Asleep: 3,066

16. Aggressive Driving/Road Rage: 1,513

17. Fatigued/Drowsy: 1,120

18. Lost Consciousness: 945

19. Illness: 896

20. Outside Car Distraction: 817

21. Passenger Distraction: 596

22. Other Human: 534

23. Drugs (Illegal) : 401

24. Cell Phone (hand held) : 357

25. Physical Disability: 318

26. Prescription Medication: 276

27. Other Electronic Device: 65

28. Cell Phone (hands free) : 50

As you can see, with 28 possible contributing factors to New York traffic accidents, there are many ways that drivers can get into trouble. Keep in mind that this list does not even include vehicular and environmental factors, which are included below.

Now, the most common contributing factors don’t necessarily lead to the greatest number of fatalities. Listed below are the top ten accident contributing factors, with the contributing factor that caused the most fatal accidents at the top:

1. Unsafe Speed: 384
2. Failure to Yield R.O.W.: 172
3. Alcohol Involvement: 169
4. Driver Inattention/Distraction: 143
5. Pedestrian/Bicyclist/Other Ped Error/Confusion: 138
6. Failure to Keep Right: 137
7. Passing or Lane Usage Improper: 99
8. Traffic Control Disregarded: 83
9. Unsafe Lane Changing: 64
10. Driver Inexperience: 41

You can see from the list above that unsafe speed is by far the most deadly of sins that a driver can commit on the road, as speed fatalities are more than twice that of the second contributing factor on the list. It should come as no surprise that one of the federal government’s main focuses for highway safety is unsafe speed.

Vehicular contributing factors and fatality rates

Below is a list of vehicular contributing factors for New York traffic accidents in 2006. The contributing factor that caused the most accidents is listed at the top, and the list ends with the least contributing factor.

1. Other Vehicular: 4,487
2. Brakes Defective: 1,599
3. Tire Failure/Inadequate: 1,147
4. Steering Failure: 542
5. Oversized Vehicle: 458
6. Accelerator Defective: 204
7. Driverless/Runaway Vehicle: 150
8. Other Lighting Defects: 103
9. Tow Hitch Defective: 85
10. Headlights Defective: 50
11. Windshield Inadequate: 17

Only six of the above vehicular contributing factors resulted in fatalities, and they are presented below in order of descending fatality rate:

1. Other Vehicular: 23
2. Tire Failure/Inadequate: 11
3. Brakes Defective: 3
4. Oversized Vehicle: 2
5. Other Lighting Defects: 2
6. Driverless/Runaway Vehicle: 1
7. Headlights Defective: 1

Environmental contributing factors and fatality rates for traffic accidents

There were nine different environmental contributing factors tracked by New York State in 2006, with one additional category of “other”. These contributing factors are listed below, and include the number of accidents they contributed towards:

1. Animal's Action: 14,858
2. Pavement Slippery: 14,334
3. View Obstructed/Limited: 3,873
4. Glare: 2,087
5. Obstruction/Debris: 1,592
6. Pavement Defective: 317
7. Traffic Control Device Improper/Non-Working: 265
8. Shoulders Defective/Improper: 96
9. Lane Marking Improper/Inadequate: 94
10. Other Environmental: 84

In terms of fatalities caused, eight of the ten above environmental contributing factors contributed to traffic accident fatalities. They are listed below, and include the number of fatalities caused:

1. Pavement Slippery: 70
2. View Obstructed/Limited: 34
3. Glare: 16
4. Obstruction/Debris: 9
5. Animal's Action: 6
6. Pavement Defective: 4
7. Other Environmental: 2
8. Shoulders Defective/Improper: 1

When all contributing factors are combined, the human factors by far contribute to more accidents and fatalities than the environmental and vehicular factors combined. In fact, 73% of all traffic accidents in New York can be attributed to human factors, which is what makes the job of law enforcement and legislators all the more difficult. It is a constant challenge to remind drivers that they are their own greatest enemies on the road, and that we all have a duty to one another to practice safe driving techniques.

Regardless of the cause, if you or someone you love has been the victim of a serious auto accident, then Peter Panas wants to help you get the justice you deserve. Contact us today and find out how you could be eligible to receive compensation for lost wages, pain and suffering, lost future earnings, and medical expenses.

Law Office of Peter Panas, PC
11 Penn Plaza, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10001
Phone: 212-946-4748
Fax: 866-805-2522