Motor vehicle accidents happen many times a day on Georgia roads. Traffic planners and roadway specialists pour over information from each accident to determine trends and reduce accidents.
A look at recent statistics provides some insight on what is driving accidents in the state.
Information on driver condition
The Georgia Department of Transportation provides a dashboard of information on state motor vehicle accidents. The current website shows data from accidents that occurred from 2014 to 2018. One area of the site shows the condition of the driver at the time of the accident. For many accidents, the condition of the driver is unknown. The next highest category involved drivers under the influence of alcohol, followed closely by drivers under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
The third most common category of a known driver condition is suspected fatigue or sleeping. Other ranked categories such as physical impairment and emotional state fall further down the list. The site does not include a category for distracted drivers.
Data on the impact of accidents
The Georgia Department of Public Health reveals the serious impact motor vehicle accidents have on the residents of the state. As recently as 2017, vehicle accidents were the number one cause of injury deaths in Georgia, as well as the leading reason for hospitalizations and ER admissions. Georgia ranked fourth in the nation for the number of traffic deaths in 2017. This is disproportionately high, as the state ranks eighth in population.
Georgia children and young adults between five and 24 years of age are more likely to die in a vehicle accident than any other type of injury death. A number of state initiatives seek to increase the use of child restraints to reduce the impact of motor vehicle accidents.