“More than 6 million police-reported motor vehicle crashes occurred in the United States in 2007. Nearly 30 percent of those crashes (1.71 million) resulted in an injury, and fewer than 1 percent (37,248) resulted in a death.”
After nearly 17 years as a licensed driver on Friday February, 20th I was involved in my first motor vehicle accident. No one was injured, the accident was the fault of the other driver and my vehicle has been repaired.
I have the perception that, statistically, driving a motor vehicle is one of the more dangerous activities I regularly engage in.
Is my statistical likelihood of being involved in another collision at all affected by my recent accident? Or does it remain static? And does the severity of the accident as it relates to injuries factor in? Am I more likely to now be in a serious collision, etc.?
On a side note, other than the obvious (driving less, driving during non-peak hours, taking less busy roads, etc…) are there any other things a person can do to statistically decrease their likelihood of a collision?
The short answer is that your likelihood of being in a future accident hasn’t changed because of this one, but how it affects the estimation of your likelihood of being in a future accident depends on who’s doing the estimating. You have complete information about your driving habits, and so the accident doesn’t give you any new information, and your estimation will remain the same. But your insurance company doesn’t have a lot of that information, and so they did learn something here, and their estimate will change. Exactly how it changes is complicated, but your long, clean driving record is working in your favor here.
The long answer is basically the same with a few more details filled in.
I hope they learned that tennis pros in big Cadillac Escalades who are in a hurry, ought to slow the fu*k down. But I am sure that’s statistically unlikely.