Motor Vehicle Crash Deaths Cost California $4.16 Billion

You read that correctly – Motor vehicle crash fatalities cost California $4.16 billion.  That figure is the highest out of any state evaluated in the CDC State Specific Costs of Crash Deaths Fact Sheets. In this data set, from 2005, only 10 states account for roughly half of the $41 billion associated with crash deaths in the United States.  California is the only state listed from the western US. The $4.16 billion figure breaks down into medical costs at $40 million and loss of work at $4.2 billion.

Young adults between the ages of 20 and 34 accounted for the majority of accidents. The high cost of crashes is partly due to the higher relative income brackets in California as well as the larger population of people in the state. The loss of work figure was derived by looking at total salary and benefits, and a prediction of that person’s work over a lifetime. Ultimately, it is not very helpful to compare our state to others, but there are ways we can work in our own state to reduce the cost of crashes.

Motor Vehicle Accident Prevention

Preventing crashes by promoting safe driving habits, intoxication checkpoints, and working to improve safety features in cars are all effective means of lowering that high figure. Since teens are not implicated in the age group analysis, our current drivers licensing system does not seem to contribute much to the equation. Encouraging seatbelt usage has been proven effective in reducing the number of deaths associated with crashes.

Another way to reduce the overall number of crashes is to encourage anyone who is tired to stay off the roads. Studies have shown that driving while tired is not very different from driving while intoxicated. Encourage anyone you know to stay off the roads if he or she is too tired to drive. And as always, avoid texting while driving. Even though hands free texting is legal in California, it can still attribute to an accident. No message is worth injuring yourself or someone else. Wait until you get to your destination or pull over to press send.

Enforcing motorcycle helmet laws, keeping our roads maintained, and reducing distractions while driving are all great ways to prevent crashes from happening in the first place. Cell phone use has become a major problem on the roadways and causes over 25% of car accidents, as of 2013. Using hands-free devices and avoiding cell phone use completely in the car are both effective methods of cutting down on injuries and fatalities associated with crashes.

Practice safe driving habits and encourage those you are with to do so by helping them stay focused on the road. By individually addressing these problems, we will all benefit from the savings in our state and in San Diego.