A car accident can happen for many different reasons, and there are a lot of different factors that contribute. Some of the main ones are distracted driving, impaired driving and aggressive driving.
However, in some senses, there’s only one thing that accounts for most car accidents. What studies have found is that over 90% of accidents happen due to human error. There are certainly some cases where the driver isn’t to blame, such as if they have a defective vehicle or if there’s a defective road design, but these are in the stark minority. Most of the time, a driver simply commits a mistake and causes a crash on their own.
A wide variety of errors
The reason that you can apply human error to 90% of car accidents is simply that it encompasses a wide variety of different mistakes. A driver who goes out of turn at a four-way stop has committed an error, as has a driver who tailgated the vehicle ahead of them until they caused a rear-end accident. A driver who is looking down at their phone is making a mistake, as is a driver who is impaired by alcohol or prescription drugs.
But it’s still important to consider the relationship between human error and car crashes because it shows that you face a certain level of risk every time you drive. Even if you don’t make any mistakes, you could still be involved in a serious accident caused by another driver who did make a mistake. These errors happen constantly, day in and day out, and you must know what legal options you have to seek compensation if you’ve suffered injuries.