Most of our readers probably know that car accidents are one of the leading causes of death in America. The statistics can fluctuate from year to year, but most people would probably expect the statistics to show a year-over-year decrease in fatalities, in light of ever-increasing safety standards and standard equipped safety devices in our vehicles. So, where does Georgia stand in terms of fatal car crashes?
According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, 2013 is the most recent year for which statistics are available. The statistics tracked a number of factors for each state, including the overall population, the number of miles drivers traveled in vehicles and the number of fatal crashes. Georgia, as some of our readers may know, has a population of about 10 million people. In 2013, the drivers among the population traveled approximately 108 million millions on Georgia roadways. That year, there were 1,085 fatal car accidents in Georgia.
Now, the next question our readers are likely to have is, “Is that higher or lower than other states?” To make that determination, we could look at a couple of other statistical categories that the IIHS tracked — deaths per 100,000 population and deaths per 100 million miles traveled. In the category of deaths per 100,000 population, Georgia stood at 11.8. In deaths per 100 million miles traveled, Georgia stood at 1.09.
Overall, it appears that Georgia is in right about the middle in relation to the other states. The lowest state in the category of deaths per 100,000 population was Massachusetts, which stood at 4.9. The highest was Montana, which stood at 22.6. These were also the lowest and highest states in the category of deaths per 100 million miles traveled, with Massachusetts at .59 and Montana at 1.96.
Source: iihs.org, “General statistics,” Accessed Feb. 21, 2016