According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 30,000 people are killed in car accidents each year in the United States. Costs of those deadly car crashes are upward of $41 billion a year when looking at medical expenses and work loss costs. And those costs are simply the measurable ones — they don’t include the actual emotional loss experienced by the loved ones of those killed in motor vehicle accidents.
Recent data analysis by the CDC revealed that of those measurable nationwide costs, 10 states bear over half the costs for motor vehicle crash deaths. Texas is the second highest, at $3.5 billion spent each year on medical and work losses due to fatal car accidents.
These numbers also don’t take into consideration the costs associated with car accidents that did not prove fatal — hospitalizations and trips to the emergency room for those injured in car crashes across the U.S. cost about another $50 billion a year.
Rounding out the rest of the top ten list of fatal car crash costs by state are:
- California at $4.16 billion
- Florida at $3.16 billion
- Georgia at $1.55 billion
- Pennsylvania at $1.52 billion
- North Carolina at $1.5 billion
- New York at $1.33 billion
- Illinois at $1.32 billion
- Ohio at $1.23 billion
- Tennessee at $1.15 billion
Source: Insurance Journal, “Cost of Fatal Car Crashes by State,” 5/13/11.