Motor vehicle accidents cost at least $99 billion a year in medical care and productivity losses, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). That’s at least $500 for every licensed driver in the United States.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the price tag is actually more than double that — $230.6 billion — if you consider higher insurance premiums, taxes and travel delays caused by crashes, according to the Oakland Tribune.
The CDC study, published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, breaks down the costs for accidents in 2005, which is the latest data available, according to the CDC.
The breakdown shows costs of $70 billion a year for car crashes, $12 billion for motorcycle accidents, $10 billion for pedestrian injuries and fatalities, and $5 billion for bicycle accidents.
Dr. Grant Baldwin, director of CDC’s Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention, says the costs are “staggering.”
“Every 10 seconds, someone in the United States is treated in an emergency department for crash-related injuries, and nearly 40,000 people die from these injuries each year,” Baldwin said in a statement. “This study highlights the magnitude of the problem of crash-related injuries from a cost perspective, and the numbers are staggering.”
The cost in human lives is, of course, incalculable, but in terms of dollars, fatalities cost $58 billion, hospitalizations cost $28 billion and trips to the emergency room cost $14 billion nationwide every year.
The CDC says these costs could be significantly lowered if more states cracked down with tough laws on seatbelt usage, using cell phones while driving, and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
California’s “click it or ticket” seatbelt campaign is one example of a safety program having a major impact on injury prevention, according to the Tribune. Nearly 96 percent of California drivers and their passengers now use seatbelts; average seat belt use nationwide is 83 percent. The state Office of Traffic Safety estimates that 1,300 lives a year have been saved by seatbelt usage in California since 2005.
The trial attorneys at Blackman Legal Group, a California-based law firm founded by renowned trial attorney Clifford Blackman, have been representing injury victims since 1976, and have special expertise in cases involving motor vehicle accident injuries and fatalities. The nationwide toll-free number to call for a free consultation is 1-866-692-8126.
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