Car Crashes Injuries

In 2012 more than 2.5 million(7,000 a day) people visited the Emergency Room because of a motor car crashes.

Of those, 200,000 required to be hospitalized for a period of time afterwards, according to the Centers for Disease

Control and Preventions latest Vital Signs report.

The lifetime cost of these crashes totaled an estimated $18 billion consisting of emergency room visits ($8 billion) and

hospitalized patients ($10 billion).

The CDC also estimates that $33 billion in lifetime work (individuals who can no longer work due to injuries) was

lost as well.

Reports of Car Crashes

The report finds that individuals aged 15-29 were the highest risk for motor car crash injuries.

They alone made up almost 1 million of the 2. 5 million(38%) documented injuries for 2012.

However, the highest percentage of hospitalized individuals came from the 80 years or older demographic,

where 33% of them ended up requiring hospitalization.

The average cost for an emergency room visit was around $3,300 while the average hospitalization bill was

approximately $57,000 over the course of a lifetime.

75% of these costs were occurred in the first 18 months after the crash.

Despite the findings, there is good news.

Car Crashes Reduced

Compared to 2002, there were 400,000 fewer emergency room visits and 5,700 fewer hospital stays in 2012.

The CDC estimates that $1.7 billion was saved in medical costs and $2.3 billion was saved in work loss due to efforts

over the years to enhance driver safety.

Although car crashes have reduced in volume over the years, there is still quite a bit of room for improvement.

The CDC recognizes 12 effective motor vehicle injury prevention techniques proven to reduce the risk to drivers

and that increase driver safety while driving.

Some examples are sobriety checkpoints and ignition locks for convicted drinking and driving, a more comprehensive

driver licensing system for teens, improved child safety with required car/booster seats for children under 8 or less than

57 inches tall, and seat belt laws for everyone in the car.

Equipped with these suggested state safety regulations and safer and smarter cars on the road, motor car crashes

should be primed to see a significant decrease in lifetime emergency room and hospitalization costs in the future.