In the United States in 2023 (2024 figures are yet to be finalized), 6,138,359 reported car crashes caused 40,901 deaths and 2,442,581 injuries. That translates to a life lost every 13 minutes, and five people hurt every minute.
This study will look beyond the numbers to consider the consequences of those accidents. We’ll focus on common types of injury and the physical and mental repercussions, what causes the crashes, the age groups that suffer most injuries and fatalities, and the financial cost of car accidents.
Let’s first focus on the main causes of crashes, with the vast majority of car accidents in the U.S. due to three specific factors.
The Main Causes of Motor Vehicle Fatalities
2023’s road fatality data clearly confirms a troubling reality: three specific risk behaviors continue to drive a disproportionate share of deadly crashes in the United States.
Alcohol-impaired driving is the main threat, killing 12,429 people last year, or one life lost every 42 minutes: this despite decades of public education and enforcement efforts.
Speeding is another significant crash contributor, having caused 11,775 deaths, 29% of all U.S. traffic fatalities. Speeding-related deaths emphasize the fact that excess speed can magnify crash force, reduce reaction times, and – in the case of extreme speed – turn what might have been a bad accident into something far worse.
And distracted driving caused 3,275 deaths, reflecting the growing dangers of in-vehicle technology, smartphone dependency, and cognitive overload behind the wheel.
While it’s widely acknowledged that the number of distracted drivers is underreported, the high number of confirmed totals shows that inattentiveness remains a leading cause of preventable roadway trauma.
Combined, drunk driving, speeding, and distracted driving form the core of America’s fatal crash profile. They underscore the safety limitations of vehicle technology and roadway engineering, with even the safest cars unable to compensate for impaired, drunk, or distracted drivers.
They also illustrate how behavioral choices (as opposed to mechanical failures or environmental conditions) cause the vast majority of roadway deaths.
Ultimately, meaningful progress in reducing fatalities requires targeted, behavior-focused interventions, stronger enforcement, improved public awareness strategies, and a better appreciation of serious danger among American drivers.
And when we look at gender disparities, a higher proportion of men would seem to require a proper understanding of fatality risk on U.S. roads.
Car Crashes: Gender Disparity
National injury data reveals a clear gender split for both fatal and nonfatal motor-vehicle crashes, underscoring key risk patterns on U.S. roadways.
In 2023, an estimated 25,805 people were injured in fatal crashes, with 60% of those injuries occurring among males, compared to 40% among females, and a very small share (0.2%) recorded as unknown sex.
This imbalance becomes even more pronounced when looking at nonfatal injury-only crashes: of the 2.42 million people injured, males accounted for 1.20 million cases while females experienced 1.21 million, showing a nearly even distribution in lower-severity crashes.
The contrast between fatal-crash injuries, where males dominate, and injury-only crashes, where both genders are nearly equally represented, suggests that men are disproportionately involved in the most severe, high-energy collision events.
This aligns with long-standing NHTSA data that suggests male drivers engage in higher-risk behaviors (speeding, impaired driving, and nighttime driving) more often.
Taken together, the gender breakdown highlights not only who is being injured but also the differing crash contexts and behavioral patterns that shape crash outcomes across the country. Similarly, the age of the drivers who suffer the most crash injuries indicates the groups who face the most crash exposure.
The Age Groups Suffering Most Crash Injuries
Study data tells us that working-age adults (who make up the largest share of drivers on the road) suffer by far the highest majority of motor-vehicle crash injuries.
Drivers aged 25–34 experienced the most injuries of any age group, followed closely by 35–44 year–olds and 16–20 year–olds, confirming that especially mobile and economically active age groups are the most susceptible to road danger.
Younger drivers (under the age of 16) accounted for only a fraction of total injuries, while adults aged 65 and older represented a declining (though significant) share as their age and medical vulnerability increased.
This pattern highlights the dual reality of crash risk: injuries peak in age groups that drive the most miles, but both very young and older populations remain significantly affected. Altogether, the data underscores the fact that traffic injuries are unevenly distributed across age groups.
Simply put, the people who suffer the most injuries are those who spend the most time on the road. And beyond the physical toll of car crashes, there are also significant financial consequences.
The Financial Cost of Car Accidents
A single traffic death costs an estimated $2 million dollars.
Yet study data suggests that if we account for the full scale of linked injuries and property damage, fatal crashes cost roughly $11.5 million per death.
In 2023, doctors treated 5.1 million motor vehicle accident injuries at a total cost of $513.8 billion, a figure that includes medical bills, property damage, wage/productivity losses, and administrative costs. (In terms of individual injuries, the costs fluctuate depending on their severity, and range between $7,400 and $167,000.
Let’s take a look at California-centric data regarding injury numbers and the overall financial toll.
The Cost of Motor Vehicle Accidents in California
The cost of California’s motor-vehicle injuries in 2024 and 2025 highlights the staggering financial burden placed on the state’s healthcare infrastructure, workforce, and overall economy.
In 2024, California’s 235,561 injuries generated $6.36 billion in mild injury costs, $10.36 billion in moderate injury costs, and an overwhelming $39.35 billion in serious injury costs.
While total injuries recorded in 2025 were 194,167, the economic toll remained substantial: $5.24 billion in mild injury costs, $8.54 billion in moderate injury costs, and $32.43 billion attributable to serious injuries.
These figures demonstrate that the most significant financial impact stems from a relatively small but highly consequential share of severe injuries. Such cases require extensive medical intervention, prolonged rehabilitation and lost wages, and long-term support services.
According to recent census figures, the national median household income is $80,610. While California’s is notably higher ($95,521), a figure that reflects both the state’s elevated cost of living and its concentration of high-wage industries, a single serious injury (at an average cost of $167,000) represents nearly 1.75 times the annual income of the typical Californian household.
Even the cost of a moderate injury (around $44,000) equates to nearly half of a median household’s yearly earnings. For many families, these losses are compounded by reduced hours, job displacement, transportation barriers, and long-term disability.
(Car accidents may also compound a family’s financial burden by driving up car insurance rates, with insurers using past claims to measure future risk.
After an at-fault accident, drivers often see their premiums rise an average of 40–50%, or an average $767 per year, following a crash for which the driver is held culpable. Even in cases where fault isn’t assigned, some companies may still raise rates because collision involvement can signal high future risk.)
Because California represents roughly 14.5% of the U.S. economy, disruptions to its labor force are nationally relevant. Crash-related injuries lead to missed workdays, lower productivity, and increased employer expenses tied to replacement labor, overtime, and workers’ compensation claims.
These economic ripples affect sectors across the state, including logistics, agriculture, healthcare, hospitality, and education, all of which rely heavily on a healthy, consistent workforce.
Ultimately, while nonfatal crashes don’t dominate headlines, their cumulative costs represent the main state crash burden, quietly shaping budgets, community resources, and everyday household finances. Motor vehicle injuries remain one of California’s most expensive and persistent public-health challenges.
Note: because severity-level data was not available in the California dataset, a proportional severity distribution was applied uniformly to both years to generate statewide cost estimates.
What Happens To Your Body In A Crash?
During a crash, the human body is subject to a series of violent forces that unfold in under a second. Safety researchers refer to these sequential forces as the ‘three collisions’: first, when the car hits an object; second, when the body hits the car’s interior; and third, when a person’s internal organs strike the inside of their body.
Even at relatively low speeds (25 to 30 mph), occupants may experience sudden forces strong enough to whip the head and neck forward faster than the car is moving.
This explains why soft-tissue injuries like whiplash make up over 840,000 crash–related injuries each year, and account for roughly 77% of known injury categories.
Rotational force inside the head can stretch or shear brain tissue. For this reason, motor-vehicle crashes remain one of the top causes of traumatic brain injuries in the U.S.
Every year, around 218,900 emergency-department visits are due to crash-related TBIs, many of which cause permanent cognitive, emotional, or neurological damage.
The rest of the body absorbs similarly intense loads. Seat belts restrain the torso, but the limbs, ribs, and spine continue to move until they meet resistance and generate forces strong enough to break bones.
National estimates suggest that 23,500 fractures every year are due to motor-vehicle crashes, with road impacts accounting for nearly 40–46% of all new spinal cord injuries in the U.S.
Internal organs are uniquely susceptible because they float inside the body. During a sudden stop, they keep moving until they collide with bone, muscle, or connective tissue.
This internal ‘third collision’ may cause hidden, life-threatening injuries such as organ laceration or internal bleeding. NHTSA research shows that ‘third collision’ forces can cause fatal internal injuries, even when a vehicle seems to be only superficially damaged.
In short, the human body is ill-equipped to tolerate the abrupt energy transfer that occurs during a crash. The combination of external impact and internal momentum makes car crashes uniquely capable of producing significant physical harm, even at speeds many drivers consider ‘safe.’
And as the following section emphasizes, some of those injuries can be life-changing.
Common Injuries Sustained During Car Crashes
Motor vehicle crashes produce a wide range of injury types that result in over 5 million Emergency Room visits each year. That statistic alone illustrates the enormous strain borne by the U.S. healthcare system due to road accidents.
Soft-tissue injuries such as whiplash and sprains/strains are by far the most common crash injuries. They account for an estimated 840,000 cases every year, 77.4% of all major injury types.
These types of injury further highlight how even low-speed collisions can damage muscles, ligaments, and connective tissue, often leading to prolonged pain, reduced mobility, and ongoing therapy needs.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are another major health burden, with crash-related TBIs resulting in about 218,900 emergency department visits each year. That represents 20.2% of known injury types that frequently lead to hospitalization, long-term cognitive effects, or disability.
Fractures and broken bones are also common: 23,500 documented annual cases represent 2.2% of known injuries, underscoring the extreme forces in play during many collisions, particularly side-impact and rollover events.
Although far less common, spinal cord injuries (several thousand cases per year representing 0.26% of major injuries) often result in profound, lifelong impairments, daunting medical costs, and long-term care needs.
Other serious but less readily quantifiable crash injuries (internal organ damage, internal bleeding) can significantly increase both the severity and financial burden of crash outcomes. (National totals for these injuries remain unavailable.)
Such a wide range of injury types and severities highlights not only the immediate medical demands faced by emergency departments, but also the long-term healthcare, rehabilitation, and quality-of-life challenges faced by crash survivors.
One challenge crash survivors often face is a deterioration in their mental health.
The Mental Health Consequences of Car Accidents
While physical trauma represents the most immediately obvious effect of a motor-vehicle crash, study data suggests that the mental after-effects may be equally serious and often last much longer. 22% to 32% of motor–vehicle accident survivors develop PTSD symptoms following a crash, making traffic crashes one of the leading causes of trauma-related psychological distress.
These symptoms often include distressing flashbacks, panic or anxiety when driving or seeing similar vehicles, nightmares, hypervigilance, and obsessive avoidance of anything crash-associated.
Depression is also common. 17.4% of survivors report depressive symptoms tied to pain, financial strain, disrupted routines, or loss of independence during recovery.
Even for those suffering only ‘minor’ physical injuries, emotional consequences may endure. Research suggests that up to half of car accident survivors continue to suffer psychological distress a year later, with numerous cases of ongoing anxiety, sleep issues, or reduced confidence behind the wheel. Emotional injuries can negatively affect work performance, concentration levels, relationships, and caregiving responsibilities.
Without early recognition and access to mental-health support, survivors may suffer unnecessarily prolonged recovery periods, social withdrawal, or residual stress that worsens physical pain and further slows rehabilitation.
As a result, experts increasingly emphasize the need to treat psychological injuries as a central part of post-crash care and as a legitimate, compensable harm in personal injury cases.
Mental-health conditions commonly triggered by motor-vehicle crashes costs the U.S. well over $700 billion each year. PTSD alone accounts for $232.2 billion of that annual figure. Depression adds another $326 billion, while disrupted sleep issues represent $94.9 billion in nationwide losses.
Even anxiety disorders (including driving anxiety) add around $40–$50 billion to costs, proving that the emotional aftermath of a crash can be as financially devastating as physical injuries.
Car Crashes in America: Risk and Consequences
Motor-vehicle crashes are one of the most significant public-health and economic challenges in the United States. In 2023 alone, more than 6.1 million crashes resulted in 40,901 deaths and over 2.4 million injuries—equivalent to a life lost every 13 minutes and five people injured every minute.
Alcohol impairment (12,429), speeding (11,775), and distracted driving (3,275) were the main causes of car crash deaths. All three consistently shape the nation’s fatality profile and show that improving driver decision-making (more so than designing better roads or improving vehicle technology) would be the best way to reduce deadly crashes.
While nonfatal crashes don’t dominate headlines, their cumulative costs represent the main state crash burden, quietly shaping budgets, community resources, and everyday household finances
Men and working-age adults are involved in most accidents, highlighting the significant knock-on productivity and economic implications of roadway trauma.
Physically, a car crash exerts complex, instantaneous force on the body, leading to varying kinds of injury: from soft-tissue injuries (840,000 annual cases) to traumatic brain injuries (218,900 emergency visits). The most severe outcomes (fractures, spinal cord injuries, and internal bleeding) carry long-term medical and financial consequences, often requiring extensive, expensive recovery and ongoing care.
Yet the emotional and mental consequences can be equally devastating. Crash-related mental-health conditions cost the U.S. an annual $700 billion.
And the overall financial crash toll is staggering. A single traffic death costs $2 million, with national injury costs exceeding $513 billion per year. For drivers, the subsequent insurance hikes can make using their car unaffordable and potentially lead to a loss of work.
California, where crashes caused more than 235,000 injuries in 2024 and 194,000 in 2025, has suffered $56–$60 billion in annual economic losses.
Ultimately, a motor-vehicle crash usually represents far more than a single sudden impact and can involve long-term physical, mental, and financial consequences. And the costs spread beyond those involved in the accident to affect families, employers, the healthcare system, and the broader economy.
For these reasons, it’s imperative that better, more widespread behavioral safety interventions and crash-prevention strategies, more effective public awareness campaigns, and more preventative enforcement measures are introduced. These offer the best means of saving countless lives and livelihoods on consistently dangerous American roads.
At Vaziri Law LLP, we know how overwhelming life can feel after a serious car accident injury. That’s why we take the time to listen, answer your questions, and guide you through every step of the process.
When you reach out to us, you’re not just contacting a law firm: you’re connecting with a team that cares about your story and is ready to stand by your side.