Car crashes are a perennial occurrence. In 2020 alone there were over 35,000 fatalities and over 1,500,000 injuries from accidents. Add in the few million involving property damage, and we’re talking over five million car crashes of some significance happening every year. And the two main causes are what you would expect, drunk driving and speeding. 

Do minors cause the most car crashes?

When it comes to the age of drivers involved in accidents, every age group is included. More than 11% of car-related fatalities were with drivers under 20 years old. In 2020, over 4,400 deaths were of those 20 years old or younger. Injuries of minors from car accidents came to 437,677.

But while minors make up a significant portion of accidents, this age group is not the worst. In fact, it is on the lower side, according to Forbes. It recently published a chart of age groups with fatalities and injuries for each one. 

How many fatalities are from intoxication?

The age group with the most fatalities and injuries associated with it are those drivers that are between 25 and 34 years old. And the group below them came in second. That group covers 35- to 44-year-old drivers. However, once drivers get past 65, accidents are noticeably lower. That could be attributed to either driving less, or less risk averse. 

As for younger drivers, unfortunately, about 30% of teens involved in fatal accidents had alcohol in their systems. And 17% say they’ve been in a car where the driver has consumed alcohol before driving. Unfortunately, 10% of teenagers admit to driving after consuming alcohol. 

When do most car crashes happen?

When it comes to gender, men are much more likely to die in an accident than women. Over 28,000 men died in accidents, while female fatalities came to 10,690. Injuries, however, were mostly split, at 1,159,030 for men and 1,122,884 for men. Interestingly, according to Forbes, 80% of both men and women admit to driving aggressively. 

Some think that “after the bars close” is when you’re more likely to be involved in an accident because of drunk drivers. But the statistics show that anytime between noon and midnight is when drunk driving car crashes happen. Accidents drop significantly after midnight, then start picking up at noon, hitting a peak between 3 PM and midnight. Of course, this correlates with when traffic is also at a peak, though these times are not normally associated with an abundance of intoxicated drivers. 

And finally, there is also a breakdown of the states you’re more likely to be in a car accident. Montana tops this list, based on several per capita data points. Nos. 2 and 3 are South Carolina and Wyoming. While California has the most registered cars, it is not in the top 20 list of states in this category.