We get it, accidents happen, and unfortunately, they are happening too often. Car crashes occur every minute of the day, according to National Highway Traffic Administration. That’s, on average, 1440 accidents per day – most of which are collisions. Within a split second your car could be totaled because of a minor mistake. When it comes to crashes, history continues to repeat itself. We see the same patterns contributing to collision accidents, over and over again. To make our roads safer, we’re sharing the most common collision types and tips for preventing accidents from happening.
Top Collisions and Tips for Avoiding them:
- Tips to avoid: 89% of rear-end crashes occur because the driver was distracted. Deter your distracted driving, put down the phone, and even go so far as putting your phone on driving mode, and set your music for your car ride before taking off. Some other ways to prevent rear ends include: Keeping your focus on the road and cars around you and by not ever tailgating, be sure to leave enough space between you and the car in front of you. The rule of thumb is to drive 3-seconds behind another vehicle at ideal driving conditions. If the road is curvy, icy, wet, or there is low visibility give yourself more time and increase it to 6-seconds.
- Tips to avoid: When backing-up don’t just use your rearview mirror or back-up camera to check to see if there are cars approaching. Do it the old-fashion way and turn around and check your back windows to see if any cars are coming your way. If you park further out and away from the traffic areas, then it could help prevent any accidents since your car would not be surrounded by the congestion.
- Tips to avoid: Make sure your tire tread isn’t too worn down, having good tread will allow for your tires to make better contact with wet roads. Drive slower when going through large puddles on the road and definitely save your cruise control feature for another day. If your vehicle does end up hydroplaning, stop accelerating, and don’t stomp your food on the brakes. Instead, apply a steady pressure and allow the car to coast into a lower speed.
- Tips to avoid: If you drive through forest areas often, consider getting a deer whistle. The noise wards off animals and is designed specifically to attach to a car’s bumper. Other tips for avoiding animal collisions include using your high beam and keeping to the speed limit.
- Tips to avoid: Follow the rules of the road, pay attention to stop signs, red lights, and who has the right away. Don’t try to make the light before it turns red, instead drive the speed limit and slow down on yellow. Invest in a vehicle that has side airbags to protect your precious cargo inside.
- Tips to avoid: Adjust your driving to the weather; if it is raining or snowing, slow down and be more cautious. Doing so will help to give you more time to react in case your car loses control. Keep your eyes up and on the road and avoid texting and driving.
1. Rear-end collisions. You look down to change the radio station and look up and all of the sudden you are rear-ending the car in front of you. There just wasn’t enough time to brake. The NHTA states that over 29% of the crashes that happen on the road are rear-ended collisions. Rear-ends occur mostly at intersections, highways, highway off-ramps, and heavy-traffic areas. The more deadly rear-ends accidents happen when driving through roadway-construction or work zones.
2. Parked-car collisions. You are jamming out to your favorite tunes and go to back out of your parking spot and a car is whizzing by, they don’t don’t stop and uh oh, you collide with one another. We’ve been there and have the bumper dents to prove it. These crashes usually occur when a car is leaving their parking spot or multiple cars are moving about in parking lot.
3. Hydroplaning collisions. After a rainstorm, you head out to run errands and when driving through an intersection your vehicle goes through a large puddle and you can no longer control it, because of this you hit a pole. This happens to many other drivers; wet roads cause more than 10% of traffic fatalities each year. When you hydroplane you have no control over the vehicle’s direction since the tires cannot make contact with the road which most likely will result in a crash.
4. Wildlife collisions. Did you know that instances of collisions with large animals nearly doubles during the fall season? In the U.S. an estimated 1.23 million deer-related accidents occur per year. Take those animal crossing signs seriously, you never know when you might be seeing a deer in headlights.
5. Side-impact collisions. Your making a left turn and another vehicle runs a light and hits you on the side of your car. In other words, you just got t-boned, ouch! Side-impact collisions involve any vehicle that has the right away but the other driver fails to stop. This type of accident causes 27% of passenger deaths according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
6. Front-impact collisions. The roads are a bit slippery and you end up driving directly into a tree. The front end of your car looks like a crumpled piece of paper now. Front-impacts are 54% of all the auto accidents that occur and it is where the front of your vehicle hits another vehicle or another object.
Even though these are the most common collisions happening it doesn’t mean they have to happen to you, stay safe out there. If you do happen to get into an accident, rest assured Metromile will have your back. We take great pride in providing a seamless claims experience that way you can get back on the road faster. To get a quote or learn more about how Metromile is changing the auto insurance industry go to www.metromile.com.
Kelsey Glynn is a blogger and owner of Social Graces, a business to support others in their social media needs. She is a contributing blog writer for East Valley Moms Blog, a social media content creator, and an avid photo taker. She is Metromile’s Senior Social Media Advocate and helps to maintain our online communities. You can catch her adventuring around AZ and living the mom life on Instagram.