How common are fatal car accidents?

[BubblegumBlu]

I’m looking at finally learning to drive, but I can’t decide whether it’s worth the risk when I have a young DC. My DH lost his mum in a crash when he was very young and the thought of leaving my DC alone like that is terrifying!

My parents always drove and never had any kind of accident, and nobody that I know personally has ever had anything more than a small bump, even the reckless ones. Car crashes seem to always be the culprit when somebody’s parents die on tv though, and there’s something like a 1 in 250 chance of dying in a car crash. It sounds really high when you think of it like that, especially compared to most other causes of death.

I know that that number includes drunk drivers, young boy racers, reckless idiots in general. Does anyone know much about the real statistics for sober, careful parent in a 5 star safety rated car? I don’t have anyone to talk about this in real life, because everyone I know seems to have no worries at all about it.

Assuming your partner was young in the 80s or 90s - car crash deaths were around 4-5 times more common back then, and that is even though we drive many more miles today.

Driver education has improved since then, cars have improved, signage and design of junctions to ensure safety/reduce crashes have all improved, emergency medicine has improved.

Thinking about it, I think car crashes in general must have been more common back then. I know my dad had about three car crashes when we were young (my mum kept joking that he would write off red cars and banned him from having one, and I thought she was being literal) and my mum had two. But I don't hear of that many crashes among my family and friends these days. Maybe my parents were just really bad drivers 🤔

DH is a former paramedic. I asked him, and he said they are rare. And he should know. Nearly everybody dies of something else, he said.

And don't forget, a lot of fatal car accidents tend to involve young men and fast cars in the wee small hours.

I can understand your fear. I used to be terrified of driving.

You can buy a very very safe car.

We were in an accident which wrote off our old car, although no one was injured. We bought the safest car on the market. No one has died in one yet. It has multiple safety features to prevent accidents and then keep you safe if you have one.

I find this very reassuring.

Apparently no one has ever had a fatal crash in a Volvo XC90… it’s pretty massive not to mention expensive for a first car but that’s pretty impressive considering they’ve been on sale for nearly 20 years. But all cars are so much safer these days and so are car seats. Crossing the street as a pedestrian or cycling on any road is far riskier.

You could give it a try? Get your provisional licence and have one or two lessons.

Try to find a sympathetic driving instructor. Explain your concerns to your driving instructor, they will likely mention defensive driving which is driving specifically with a focus on avoiding accidents. They might also know some statistics around ways to reduce risk.

You will then have a sense of how anxious you feel in a car and how much control you end up feeling like you have. This will help you to build a more complete picture.

I learnt to drive in my 30s and I hate it. It's rare I drive anyway but I have an old car and it doesn't feel safe to take the kids in it.

I don't actually know anyone who has had anything other than a small prang so no reason there to be worried.

Unfortunately my DP is a firefighter so deals with some very nasty crashes. It always seems to be the person who doesn't cause the crash that dies which worries me even more.

Hi OP.. I used to work in a job that had a lot of connection to road safety statistics.
PPs are Right, statistically, a careful driver in a modern NCAP 5 vehicle is really quite safe in the scheme of things.

the UK is one of the safest countries in the world, and many of the fatal crashes we do have are frequently related to drink and drugs, falling asleep or health episodes at the wheel (as in some poor soul has a fatal heart attack then crashes, but it will still get recorded as a collision)

choose the most modern, highest NCAP rated car you can find, don’t drive drunk, Ill or tired. Drive defensively. Don’t be a 17 year old lad in a souped up hot hatch. You are likely to be fine. and, yes, there has been a huge effort by police, educators and engineers to reduce injuries and collisions on the roads over the last 30—40 years, so crashes are way, way less common than they used to be. (I can dig the numbers out if you want)

Even better, modern cars are amazing and you are very like to walk away from an impact that might have been fatal/lifechanging even just a few years ago. The crumple zones and airbags offer unbelievable protection nowadays.

To be honest, your biggest risk, on a population level as an average driver is getting diabetes or heart disease from lack of exercise because you aren’t walking everywhere.

They are rare though almost all I would argue are preventable. Getting rid of SUVs, having no exceptions for driving bans and requiring re-tests after a ban, and enough traffic police, all could reduce the number significantly.

Though 2,000 a year is the equivalent of the number of deaths per day that happened in March 2020 because of Mr Johnson's dither and delay.

www.think.gov.uk/thinkmap/ not sure if this is the rightmap ... There's another called crash map.

Today’s cars really are designed to be incredibly safe. There is simply no comparison between a modern 5* car and the death traps built before the 90s.

Try to keep the relative risks vs benefits of driving in some sort of rational perspective. Driving is much less dangerous than cycling, although it obviously doesn’t have the same health benefits. It is also much less dangerous than being fat, or smoking, or not exercising, or eating an unhealthy diet, or riding a horse, or getting badly sunburnt or… you get the idea.

I regularly drive a road that in the summer seems as though it is closed due to a serious rta at least once a fortnight but in reality I only know of 1 person killed in an accident and he was driving recklessly.

My DM was killed in a car accident. The fault of a pensioner who drifted into oncoming traffic and also killed another woman.
It's made me a lot more nervous as a passenger.

"Car crashes seem to always be the culprit when somebody’s parents die on tv though"

Because it's a quick and easy shorthand way to get rid of both parents without any genetic foreshadowing for the main character.

Well my DH was killed in one. I haven't let it stop me from driving. Ever.

In the UK people killed in rta were: 1870 in 2019, 1460 in 2020 and 1390 in 2021.

Although I was "reliably" informed by someone who was "in the know" that almost all the deaths attributed to covid in 2020 (so over 60k) were actually people who had tested positive then died after being hit by a bus. Apparently my response suggesting in that case he'd be better campaigning for better road safety than campaigning against vaccines missed the point.

I work as a claims handler. We see very few fatal car crashes.

A car crashed into the side of my house once. The driver had a medical episode and blacked out, foot on the accelerator, and hit the wall at 40mph.

So you don't even need to leave your house to be at risk from a car crash! (Nobody was hurt, miraculously, and the house survived.)

I'm a nervous driver anyway but this thread has made me feel better. PP who say you shouldn't drive if you're anxious have got it the wrong way round. I'd rather be a cautious driver who concentrates than a cocky boy racer.

I’m no SUV evangelist but I would have thought that big cars like that save many lives by protecting their occupants

When I was buying a car after DC1 was born, my brother was a police man, and he was urging me to buy one of those big Volvo SUVs
Apparently no one has ever died in one in a crash?
not sure if that statement is still true but it definitely was for a long time

It sounds like your OH needs some professional help and that his fears are being passed to you.

Its no way to live op

SUVs kill more pedestrians and overall make crashes worse

I sort of understand what you’re going through op. I’m 25 and just learning. I’m not worried about driving generally, but I hate the idea of me being the driver with my 3 year old in the car. Dp has been driving nearly a decade and I trust him entirely, I think I will make him do most of the driving until I get more experience.

In the UK..?

The only statistics and studies I can find use American crash data, and most also include SUVs and Vans as one vehicle class

SUVs commonly seen in the US are quite different to the ones in the UK
I can’t find any data on UK crashes and fatalities which separates out SUVs

www.newscientist.com/article/dn4462-suvs-double-pedestrians-risk-of-death/

I don't drive although I have a licence. I have very poor co ordination and I think if I was a child or teenager now I would be diagnosed dyspraxic. When I was 15 or 16 I had a weird premonition type /throught/irrational fear that I would die before I was 20. I love life and always have and for some reason kept thinking that my life would be over at 20 in an RTA. My parents basically forced me to learn to drive and100 lessons later I passed my test, - always hated it and was very very nervous because I was so scared of crashing- a combination of these weird thoughts and the fact I just couldn't do it easily. I had a car for 2 years and just about got used to driving to work and back in my early 20's but there was no way I would ever drive anywhere out of my comfort zone. I then moved to London to work for 2 years and when I got back in a car 3 years later I had dizzy spells and actually thought I was going to be sick. I then had refresher lessons and my instructor actually said I was a liability and not safe. I haven't driven for 30 years and I get by walking and buses - it does limit what I can do and getting the children to places is a nightmare. I have thought about having hypnotherapy for it but kind of used to walking everywhere now and like it that way. Nothing else in life makes me anxious and I don't worry or panic about anything apart from getting behind the wheel of a car.

It is possible to get by without driving but Yes it is more difficult but it isn't the be all and end all.

Seek help for your anxiety issues. It’s not good for your wellbeing to even be thinking like this

This. Sadly most fatal accidents involve young people who have recently passed their tests and are speeding, racing etc. So the risks you would face would be much lower. If your DH does not drive then I would recommend you try to learn, having no driver in the household is a pain.