7 Crazy Snow Auto Accident Stats

Everyone knows that snowy driving is some of the most dangerous driving you can do, but do you know just how dangerous it is? This blog post will reveal some crazy statistics about winter driving- from the sobering to the surprising.

We got our facts from the Safe Winter Roads Organization and Forbes, so check those sites out if you want more facts!

116,000 Americans are injured on snowy roads every winter.

This number is staggeringly high considering that in most places, winter isn’t more than a handful of months. Icy roads and snowy conditions reduce visibility and reaction times, increasing the injury rates on America’s roads.

Putting salt down on a road reduces crashes by 88%

The time-honored solution of salting roads and sidewalks may seem like an odd solution, but salting a road dramatically reduces car crashes. A study by Marquette University discovered just how much safer salt makes our roads, and it is certainly an incentive to get out and sprinkle our sidewalks!

70% of America’s population lives in a snowy region

Surprisingly, most Americans don’t live in a tropical or arid part of the country! You’d think we’d prefer to live in a warmer climate, but the majority of the country lives in places where snow is a normal part of life.

70% of the nation’s road are in snowy regions.

Matching our population demographics exactly, America’s highways are primarily concentrated in snowy parts of the country. This creates more risk for drivers, who must content with dangerous roads when the snowfall hits.

If you’re curious, “snowy regions” are any place in the country that gets more than 5 inches of snow each year.

Winter road maintenance accounts for 20% of State Department Of Transportation maintenance budgets.

And you thought your snow blower was pricey! Shoveling snow, snow salt, and the machines that make all that possible is a high-cost operation, and states need to budget a lot to keep their roads drivable and their citizens safe.

It’s more dangerous to drive the day after the snowfall.

Statistically, crash rates decline the day of an enormous snowfall.

People prefer to avoid driving and stay home during unsafe conditions. The day after the snowfall, it takes people a while to get re-adjusted to snow driving, and the crash rate increases. You’re also more likely to lose control of a vehicle on a road with snow on it, so side-streets are more dangerous.

Most of the crashes have nothing to do with mechanical failures.

Often, people talk about snow crashes as the brakes locking up or the car losing control, but these accidents are less a result of mechanical issues and ore a behavioral failure on the part of the driver. Incautious driving coupled with unsafe conditions can make even experienced drivers trip up. Use caution!

Snow driving requires less speed and more control, remember to increase your following space, braking and accelerating slowly, and always wearing a seatbelt during snowy months.

Good luck, and stay safe and warm on winter roads!

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