Victims of catastrophic car and truck accidents, or their surviving family members, can pursue financial compensation for their losses through our courts. While no monetary award can truly make up for the loss of a loved one or a life-altering injury, the federal government has determined the substantial costs imposed by motor vehicle crashes.
The report reviews the economic and societal impacts of the 33,000 people killed and the 3.9 million injured in motor vehicle accidents in 2010. The hard economic costs include medical and rehab care, property damage, productivity losses, and more. The report also includes intangible losses, such as a diminished quality of life and the chronic pain a person can suffer as a victim of a serious crash.
Car and Truck Crashes Cost the United States $836 Billion
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates the total costs of car and truck crashes for 2010 to be $836 billion. Tangible financial losses - property damage, medical care, etc. - account for 29 percent of that total, while quality of life losses are the remaining 71 percent.
Each death in a car or truck crash poses an average lifetime societal cost of $9.1 million, 85 percent of which is due to the lost quality of life.
Those Critically Hurt in Car Accidents Face $5.4 Million in Costs
Critically injured survivors of motor vehicle wrecks face an average total of $5.4 million in comprehensive costs.
According to the NHTSA report, 10,536 people died in 2010 in crashes involving a speeding driver, or 32 percent of all traffic-related deaths that year. The comprehensive costs for speed-related crashes were $203 billion.
Other costly bad driver behaviors in 2010 included alcohol use and driving while distracted.
More than 13,000 people were killed in alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents, with a total cost of $236 billion. Distracted driver accidents killed 3,267 people, at a cost of nearly $40 billion in economic costs alone.
These costs are from 2010, when 32,000 people died in traffic accidents. In 2015, 35,000 people were killed, meaning last year the already considerable economic and societal costs increased along with the fatalities. If you had a family member killed or you were seriously hurt in a crash caused by another driver, you may be allowed financial recovery for all your losses, both tangible and intangible. An experienced car accident attorney can pursue the just compensation to which you are entitled.
The choice of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely on advertising.
Authored by: Gray Ritter Graham posted in Auto Accidents on Tuesday, November 8, 2016.
RSS Feed