Motor vehicle Accident Statistics in Texas are sadly on the rise.

According to the Texas Motor Vehicle Traffic Crash Highlights released by TxDOT, there were a total of 63,610 serious auto crashes in Texas in 2012 causing injuries to 230,506 people. Of these, 87,087 people were seriously injured and 3,399 sadly died. Based on the crashes that were reported, there was one crash every 75 seconds, one person was injured in every 2 minutes and 17 seconds and one person was killed every 2 hours and 35 minutes.

While the number of fatalities in vehicle accidents in Texas has remained consistently between 3,000 and 4,000 since 2003, the economic costs have been increasing every year. In 2012, the estimated economic loss due to auto crashes was $26 billion. In 2011, it was $23.4 billion and in 2010 it was $22.3 billion. Based on these figures, the number of auto accidents, injuries, fatalities and economic loss can only be expected to be higher in 2013.   Its not quite clear why these dollars are increasing while the number of accidents remains somewhat consistent.  Costs of vehicles, wage increases, and inflation may all be factors to explain the dollar increase.

The major cause of car accidents was identified as DWI/DUI.  In 2012, there were 1,099 fatalities due to accidents caused by drivers under the influence of alcohol (or 32.3% of all the people killed in road accident that year.)  Other reasons include careless driving, driving when fatigued, using a cell phone while driving, slippery road conditions, inclement weather conditions and a defective vehicle. Whatever the reason for the accidents, the probability of getting injured is significantly high.

If you are injured or lost a family member in an Austin traffic accident, call Funk & Associates immediately. Funk & Associates is an Austin-based law firm dealing in auto accidents and other personal injury cases.