Where you drive affects the risks you face.
About 20 percent of motor vehicle crash deaths result from a vehicle leaving the roadway and hitting a fixed object alongside the road. Trees, utility poles, and traffic barriers are the most common objects struck. About half of the deaths in fixed object crashes occur at night. Alcohol is a frequent contributing factor. Motorists also run off the road because of excessive speeds, falling asleep, inattention, or poor visibility. Efforts to reduce these driver errors are only somewhat effective, so it's important to remove fixed objects or avoid putting them along roads in the first place, especially roads where vehicles are more likely to leave the pavement. Less preferred options include using breakaway objects or shielding or increasing the visibility of the objects.
Although far fewer deaths occur in collisions with animals, since 1975 there has been a general upward trend. In recent years these deaths have occurred most frequently during July-September.
The following facts are based on analysis of data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). For deaths in collisions with fixed objects, the information is based on fatal crashes in which the most harmful event coded was a collision with a fixed object, regardless of whether the first harmful event also was a collision with a fixed object, or was instead another type of crash, such as a collision between two motor vehicles, that in turn led to a collision with a fixed object. Information on the most harmful event became available in FARS in 1979. The information on collisions with animals is based on fatal crashes in which the first harmful event coded was a collision with an animal; many of these collisions involve secondary impacts that are more severe, such as colliding with another vehicle or a tree. Information on the first harmful event has been available since FARS was established in 1975.
A total of 7,239 people died in fixed object crashes in 2013, 3 percent fewer than in 2012 and 31 percent fewer than in 1979. The proportion of motor vehicle crash deaths involving collisions with fixed objects has remained between 19 and 23 percent since 1979.
Trees are the most common fixed object struck. Fifty percent of deaths in fixed object crashes in 2013 involved a vehicle striking a tree. Utility poles and traffic barriers were the next most common objects struck, accounting for 13 and 8 percent of deaths, respectively.
Forty-four percent of drivers killed in fixed object crashes in 2013 had blood alcohol concentrations (BACs) at or above 0.08 percent. By comparison, 26 percent of drivers killed in other types of fatal crashes had BACs this high. The percentage of drivers killed in fixed object crashes with BACs at or above 0.08 percent declined from 66 percent in 1982 to 44 percent in 2013, a reduction of 33 percent.
Twenty-seven percent of drivers killed in fixed object crashes in 2013 were males younger than 30. Overall, males accounted for 80 percent of drivers killed in fixed object crashes in 2013.
Ninety-five percent of fixed object crash deaths in 2013 occurred in single-vehicle crashes.
Nineteen percent of deaths in fixed object crashes in 2013 involved vehicles rolling over.
About 19 percent of passenger vehicle occupant deaths in fixed object crashes in 2013 involved ejection; 14 percent of the occupants killed were fully ejected, and 5 percent were partially ejected.
Fifteen percent of deaths in fixed object crashes in 2013 occurred on interstates and freeways, 49 percent occurred on other major roads, and 36 percent occurred on minor roads.
Fifty-seven percent of deaths in fixed object crashes in 2013 occurred on rural roads.
Forty-three percent of deaths in fixed object crashes in 2013 occurred on roads with speed limits 55 mph or higher.
Forty-four percent of deaths in fixed object crashes in 2013 occurred at night (9 p.m.-6 a.m.). The highest proportions of deaths in fixed object crashes occurred between midnight and 3 a.m. (18 percent) and between 9 p.m. and midnight (16 percent).
From 1975 to the mid 2000s there was a general upward trend in deaths from collisions with animals, but this trend has leveled off in the past few years. These deaths increased from 89 in 1975 to 223 in 2007 and then declined to 191 in 2013. In 2013, deaths in collisions with animals occurred most often during July-September.
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