Who Is Most Likely to Die? An Unbuckled Driver on July 4

July 4 is here and with it comes a startling statistic: That’s the day Americans are most likely to die in an automobile accident.

The Auto Insurance Center compiled a year’s worth of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. In that year of stats, there were 32,675 people killed in traffic accidents, a number that’s been steadily declining since 1975.

Holidays dominate the days with the most fatalities with the top three days for traffic deaths being July 4, Jan. 1 and Labor Day. The additional traveling on those days, combined with alcohol served at parties, produce a deadly combination.

August and July are the most deadly months due to summer road trips and more teens driving while school is out. In order, Saturday, Friday and Sunday are the deadliest days—again due to alcohol consumption.

The nation’s two deadliest roads have a Florida connection: I-10 (which travels from Jacksonville through Pensacola and on to California) is the worst road for fatalities, while I-95 (from Miami through Jacksonville to Maine) is second.

A few other facts compiled from the data:

• Drivers (63%) are the most likely to be killed in an accident, followed by passengers (18%), pedestrians (15%) and cyclists (2%).
• Not wearing a seatbelt (45% of all deaths) is the biggest risk factor, followed by driving under the influence (31%) and speeding (28%).
• The most common blood alcohol level for alcohol-related fatal crashes was 0.22%—nearly three times the legal limit in Florida.

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