Do More Accidents Occur After the Sun Goes Down?
A disproportionate share of car accidents occurs at night, since visibility is lower, and speeding and drunk driving are more common during the nighttime hours.
Most people fear air travel more than they fear car travel and perceive walking at night as more dangerous than driving at night, but the chances of injury are greater when you are in a car than walking or traveling by plane, especially if you are driving at night. As the millions of people who have been driving for decades without ever getting injured in a car accident can attest, driving is usually safe, especially if you are cautious. Dangerous driving behaviors account for many accidents per year, though, some including fatalities. No matter the time of day or night, drivers must abide by traffic laws, and cities have a responsibility to maintain their roads so that they are safe for driving at night. If you have been injured in a nighttime car accident, contact a Murrietacar accident lawyer.
Fewer Cars on the Road, but More Accidents
When you are looking at raw numbers, the number of daytime traffic fatalities and the number of nighttime traffic fatalities are almost equal, which might lead you to think that there is no safest or most dangerous time to travel by car. When you consider that only 25% of driving occurs at night, though, the numbers tell a different story. In other words, daytime driving results in the same number of fatal accidents as nighttime driving, even though there are three times as many cars on the road during the day.
The Hazards of Nighttime Driving
The higher rate of severe traffic accidents at night is due to several hazards that are more prevalent during nighttime hours. First, the lower level of visibility at night increases the likelihood of a collision, especially in poorly lit areas such as rural roads, or even city streets where the streetlights are not functioning properly.
Collisions involving excessive speed are also more common at night. Because there is less traffic, cars can sustain high speeds for longer than they can in the daytime. Likewise, alcohol is a factor in about 60% of nighttime traffic fatalities, compared to only 20% of daytime traffic fatalities. People are more likely to be driving home from bars or social gatherings where alcohol was served at night than during the day. Poor visibility, high speeds, and alcohol all increase the likelihood of single-vehicle accidents, which are much more common at night than during the day.
Contact a Murrieta Car Accident Lawyer
Whether you were injured in a car accident at night or during the day, a personal injury lawyer can help. A car accident lawyer can help you prove that the accident that caused your injuries was preventable and was a direct result of negligence by the driver who caused the accident. Contact Gibbs & Fuerst LLP in Murrieta, California to set up a consultation about your car accident case.