Understanding Florida Car Accident Statistics

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles has published the official statistics on accidents that occurred in Florida.

When examining the latest charts from 2021, it becomes immediately apparent that there was a reduction in accidents in nearly every category in 2020. This reduction is undoubtedly attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic and the decrease in travel during this challenging period.

Young Drivers at Highest Risk

Drivers who are 20 to 24 years of age made up the bulk of young-driver crashes, 81,292 in 2021. This tends to imply that these young drivers are still inept but are out there driving longer distances and with greater frequency, possibly drinking alcohol. Although it does not appear that most young drivers were drunk at the time of the accidents, they may have long-term impairment and delayed reaction of their motor skills simply from drinking at all.

Hit-and-Run Accidents

An alarming statistic is the high number of hit-and-run accidents. In 2021, for example, the statistics show a whopping 109,646 hit-and-run crashes. In 2022, 11,704 hit-and-run incidents occurred in Fort Lauderdale alone. Thankfully, only 306 of these crashes resulted in fatalities. This demonstrates that vehicles are becoming safer and that motorists are less and less likely to sustain fatal injuries. It also creates a basis to argue for mandatory road cameras in vehicles to ensure that hit-and-run drivers are captured. 

The danger of hit-and-run drivers is that we don't always know if they were intoxicated or driving dangerously. They may reoffend and seriously injure innocent families and individuals by their bad driving habits. 

Furthermore, insurance may not cover the injuries when they are inflicted by a hit-and-run driver without taking out additional coverage before the accident occurs. And if someone is injured in a hit-and-run accident in a remote area, there may be no one else around to assist and call for help. In these instances, even a minor injury may become life threatening.

Seat Belts

Another interesting statistic raises questions regarding seat belt safety. In 722 fatal accidents, a shoulder and lap belt were used. By comparison, only 631 accidents resulted in fatalities with no restraints used whatsoever. 

However, when we consider other sources, it overwhelmingly proves that seat belts save lives. According to the NSC, 90.4 percent of people used seat belts in 2021. And the overall fatality statistics among the passengers and drivers who skipped restraints made up 50 percent. 

This means that your risk of death is nine times higher if you drive without safety restraints, according to the national average. Yet, drivers and occupants are more likely to die when using restraints in Florida. 

Causes of Accidents

The most interesting statistics are the reasons why the accidents occurred. According to the FLHSMV statistics, failing to yield to the right of way and simply operating the vehicle in a reckless or negligent manner racked up the highest volume of non-incapacitating and fatal accidents. 

In addition, running red lights and stop signs makes up a significant volume of accidents. And following too closely and swerving into the wrong lane is generally worse than speeding, although excess speed tends to kill at a higher rate.

Timing is Everything

Most Sunday-driver fatal accidents occurred at the witching hour, midnight. This statistic only nudges out other time slots, however, and doesn't necessarily indicate a reliable trend. Friday appears to be the day that you are most likely to get into an accident of any sort, although it's more likely to be fatal on a Saturday by a slight margin.

Conclusion

It appears that Florida is bucking the trend in seat belt safety. This is a puzzling aspect of the official 2021 statistics. As more and more vehicles come equipped with blind-spot detection safety features, we hope to see the number of accidents related to failure-to-yield violations fall. 

And we can only hope to solve the troubling statistics affecting young drivers by working to understand how their driving habits can be improved to prevent accidents in the future. Hit-and-run drivers are another problem that needs to be addressed with possible innovations in technology to catch them and deter this criminal behavior.