Motor Vehicle Accidents Cause More Deaths than any other Injury

In 2002, “unintentional injuries, � better known as accidents were responsible for 4.4% of all deaths occurring, making it the fifth most common cause death in the United States. More surprising is accidents were the number one cause of death of those between the ages of one and 29 in the U.S. Accidents claimed the lives 12,752 between the ages of 15 and 24. Accidents are the third most common cause of death among American males, but only the seventh most common cause of death among American women.

What probably comes as little surprise is motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) are the number one type of accident, accounting for 44.3% of the deaths resulting from an accident. Falls come in a very distant second with only 17.8%.

In 2005, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ranked states based upon how many fatalities per 100,000 people resulted from MVAs. The top four states were: (1) Wyoming 33.4; (2) Mississippi 31.9; (3) Montana 26.8 and (4) South Carolina 25.7. The states with the lowest were: (1) Massachusetts 6.9; (2) New York 7.4; (3) Connecticut 7.8 and (4) Rhode Island 8.1