How Many Car Accidents Are Caused by a Driver’s Mistake?

Depending on your source, you will find that anywhere from 80 percent to 95 percent of car accidents are caused by human error, rather than by environmental factors or by defective auto parts. In short, we are talking about auto accidents caused by human behavior.

What Are Examples of Auto Accidents Caused by Human Error?

Human error can be the sole or contributing cause of an accident for many reasons. However, bad driving behaviors are the most common. Reckless driving puts the driver, passengers and innocent people on the road at a serious risk. Some examples of human error are:

• Speeding
• Drunk driving or driving under the influence of illegal drugs
• Changing lanes without signaling or failing to turn headlights on
• Driving through red lights or stop signs
• Following other cars too closely
• Distracted driving, such as texting, talking on a cell phone and using other devices that keep hands off the wheel. You may have seen our previous blog on the new hands-free law for Austin, Texas.

What is most obvious about this list of human errors is that these are all preventable. This means that countless car accidents involving injuries and fatalities never should have occurred in the first place. Bad driving behavior is a global epidemic. Approximately 1.3 million people around the world are killed in car accidents and over 50 million people are injured in them.

The Law Offices of Aaron Allison – Austin Personal Injury Attorney