CDC: Accidents Cost the US Economy More Than $99 Billion Annually
The economic costs from motor vehicle accidents in the US, including those from hospitalization expenses and lost income, exceed more than $99 billion a year. That information comes from a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and published in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention. The data that was used for the study came from the year 2005, the last year for which the data was available.
It's a staggering estimate, and more than $70 billion of that huge amount, went towards meeting hospitalization and medical-related expenses of accident victims. What's more, according to the agency, the study only took costs from hospitalization and lost wages into account, and did not include additional expenses, like the increase in auto insurance premiums after an accident.
As we expected, motor vehicle accidents account for the lion’s share of economic costs every year. In 2005, these accounted for approximately 71% of all costs, or $70 billion. Motor vehicle accidents here include accidents involving passenger cars, light pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.
Motorcycle accidents costs touched $12 billion, pedestrian accident costs equaled $10 million and bicycle accident costs equaled $5 billion in 2005. Some groups like pedestrians and bicyclists had a lower share of the total number of fatal and nonfatal accidents in 2005, but accounted for a substantially larger percentage of costs. That's because motorcyclists, bicyclists and pedestrians have a much higher risk of suffering extreme or severe injuries that can add to their medical expenses.
A $99 billion price tag is completely unacceptable, especially when you consider that most auto accidents are entirely preventable. Lowering accident-related costs will involve implementing and enforcing seat belt laws, encouraging the use of child safety seats, implementing tougher GDL laws for teen motorists, requiring that all motorcyclists and bicyclists wear helmets, and cracking down harder on intoxicated motorists.
The Indiana auto accident attorneys at Theodoros and Rooth represent injured victims of car and motorcycle accidents, and help them recover rightful compensation for their losses.
