Alabama Car Accident Statistics
Alabama Car Accidents vs. National Car Accidents
The state of Alabama has one of the highest rates of auto accidents in the U.S. The motor vehicle occupant death rate in Alabama is 13.7 (per 100,000 population), and the national average rate is 7.0, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) based off data from 2012.
Source: CDC Motor Vehicle Safety
This high auto accident death rate in Alabama is not because Alabama’s population has worse drivers, or because they don’t wear their seatbelt as often. No, according to the Alabama Department of Public Health, it is because such a large segment of Alabama’s population lives in rural areas where hospitals are farther distances away than normal.
Rural Vs. Urban Fatal Car Accidents in Alabama
While total crashes and fatalities across the state decreased by almost eight and 29 percent between 2005 and 2014, Alabama still has much room for improvement, according to the latest crash facts from the Alabama Department of Transportation. In 2014, a crash occurred every four minutes. Of those, someone was injured every 13 minutes while a fatality occurred every 10 hours.
Most Dangerous Travel Times
While more accidents occur between 3PM and 6PM, crashes with fatalities tend to happen after dusk or before dawn. The graph above shows the percentage of total car accidents and percentage of fatalities by the hour. In total, there were 133,219 car accidents and 821 fatalities in 2014. The most crash-pone day of the week is Friday while the deadliest day is Saturday.
Traffic Fatalities Per 100 Million Miles Travelled
Source: NHTSA, Traffic Safety Performance
Understandably, the more miles traveled the more fatalities. In the graph above you can see the dip in fatalities during the recession- a time marked by people saving money by spending less on gas and not traveling by car as much. Traffic analysts are closely monitoring conditions now, however, as the economy is rising again and people have returned to vacation and leisure driving.
Alabama drivers have greater than one in three chances of involvement in an injury or fatal crash in their lifetime. Almost all drivers, 98 percent, statistically will be involved in an accident of any severity level in their lifetime.
If you’ve been involved in a car accident because of the negligence of another, the Birmingham car accident attorney team at The Mitchell Law Firm, LLC can help you get the compensation you deserve. Contact us today for a free initial consultation with one of our award-winning lawyers.