IIHS reports on “A Day of Crashes”

Arlington, Virginia – The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has issued a special report on “A Day of Crashes”, focusing on June 7, 2005, the day with the average number of crashes across the U.S. in 2005. On that day, 119 people died in 102 crashes across 34 states, beginning at 12:05 a.m. in Indiana and ending at 11:55 p.m. in Texas.

“Crashes are so complicated, so many factors are involved, and so many things can go wrong – do go wrong – that we’ll never get to the point where there are zero crash deaths,” says Anne McCartt, IIHS senior vice president for research. “But if you look closely at the deaths on June 7, you see that none of the people in these stories had to die. We know how to prevent most crash deaths. We just don’t always apply what we know.”

Most of the people who died on June 7, 2005 were in passenger vehicles; 63 were drivers, and 27 were passengers. Also killed were 10 motorcyclists, 8 pedestrians, 4 bicyclists, 3 riders on all-terrain vehicles (ATV) and one truck driver. The youngest was 20-month-old Kaylee Haneline of Florida, the oldest 92-year-old Mary Millie Lopez of West Virginia.

On the day, 43 of 90 vehicle occupants killed were not wearing seatbelts; 16 of the 63 drivers killed were teenagers; 19 drivers who died were speeding; and 22 drivers had a blood alcohol content of 0.08 per cent or more. The deadliest hour was between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m., when 14 died, followed by 12 deaths between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m.; one person was killed between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m., while there were no deaths between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m.

In all of 2005, a total of 39,189 crashes across the U.S. claimed 43,443 lives, the largest number of motor vehicle deaths since 1990; total deaths have increased since a low of 39,250 in 1992.

The full report can be found at IIHS.org.