If you have ever heard your parents and grandparents talk about what cars were like when they were first learning to drive, you will appreciate how safe all the cars on the road are today, even the models that do not emphasize safety as a selling point. The car accidents that claimed the lives of World War II General George Patton in 1945 and actress Jayne Mansfield in 1967 and the one that caused Sammy Davis, Jr.’s life-changing injuries in 1954 might have had different outcomes if they had involved vehicles with modern design.
More recently, actor Kevin Hart was involved in an accident in his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda which, at great expense, he had outfitted with all the original classic features, and lawyers argued that the accident would have caused less severe bodily injury to Hart and the other occupants of the car if it had complied with current safety standards. Despite that the most dangerous cars on the road today are safer than the safest cars from the days before seatbelts and airbags, some makes of cars account for far more fatal accidents than others. If you have been injured in a car accident, no matter the make of the vehicles involved, contact a Louisiana car accident lawyer.
What Cars Are the Most Frequently Involved in Fatality Accidents?
A recent report published by Autoinsurance.org documented trends among the fatality accidents in the years 2017, 2018, and 2019, as recorded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. These are some of its findings:
- Ford vehicles were involved in the greatest number of fatal accidents during the years studied, accounting for 21,262 accidents. About 15% of the accidents recorded in the data involved Ford cars and pickup trucks.
- Chevrolet came in second place, with 20,435 fatal accidents.
- Toyota was a distant third, with 12,918.
- Honda and Dodge rounded out the top five places, in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
- The cars with the fewest fatal crashes were Audi, Genesis, and Volvo, all of which are renowned for their safety ratings.
- Regardless of make, white cars were less likely to be involved in fatal accidents. This is probably because white cars are the easiest to see from a distance at night, making it possible to avoid a crash, or at least to reduce your speed and avoid the worst-case scenario.
The report only measured the raw number of accidents in which each car make was involved, so the high number of fatal accidents involving Chevrolet, Ford, and Toyota could be due to the overall popularity of those makes. It did not measure the rate of fatal accidents, which would require dividing the number of cars of a given make by the total number of that type of car on the road. By that measure, Dodge had the highest rate of fatality crashes.
Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey About Car Accidents
A car accident lawyer can help you if you got hit by a car, no matter the type of car you were driving or the make of the car that hit you. Contact the Law Office of Patrick H. Yancey in Houma, Louisiana to see if you have grounds for a lawsuit.