Car Accident Statistics for Miami and Hialeah 

The car accident attorneys at the Law Offices of Gilbert and Smallman, LLC, will be your lifeline after an accident where an injury is involved.  However, we would like to help you stay out of accidents in the first place.  Miami and Hialeah have significantly more vehicle accidents than almost any city in America.  Please review the following data and possibly a small change in your driving habits could help save you and your family a bunch of misery. 

The Allstate Insurance Company has released its eighth annual “Allstate America’s Best Drivers Report™.” The report, based on Allstate claims data, ranks America’s 194 largest cities in terms of car collision frequency to identify which cities have the safest drivers.

At the very, very bottom of the barrel for 2013, we find Washington, D.C., where drivers have accidents about every 4.8 years. That means that motorists in America’s capitol city are about 109.3 percent more likely to be involved in collisions than your average U.S. driver who will be in an accident about every 10 years on average.

As with the best cities for driving, most of the cities at the bottom of Allstate’s list were there in 2012, too — and four of the five and 11 of the top 14 are situated on the East Coast. Make of that what you will.

For the second year in a row, Hialeah and Miami managed to make the worst 10 list with Hialeah ranking #4.  Drivers in Hialeah manage to have an auto accident every 5.6 years, making them 78.7% more likely to have an accident than the US average.  Miami took 8th place.  Miami drivers are 59.4% more likely to be in a car accident, which will occur ever 6.3 years.

For complete details — including some important information on Allstate’s ranking methodsyou can view a PDF of the”America’s Best Drivers Report” here.

The Allstate report doesn’t offer any reasons why Miami and Hialeah are among the most car accident prone cities in the US.  However, we can turn to other statistics to provide us with some hints.  The leading causes of accidents in the USA include:

1. Distracted Drivers Cause Most Car Accidents in Miami

The American Automobile Association states that somewhere between 25-50 percent of all motor vehicle crashes in this country have driver distraction as their root cause. And according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, one out of every ten fatal crashes involves distraction, resulting in more than 3,000 deaths per year.  Experts agree the numbers are likely underestimated.

What kind of distractions

• • Use of Cell Phone
  • Driver fatigue
  • Eating
  • Rubbernecking at accident scenes
  • Looking at scenery 
  • Other passengers or children 
  • Adjusting the radio or other entertainment device

More than 85 percent of the estimated 100 million cell-phone users talk on their phone regularly while driving, according to Prevention Magazine.

Drowsy drivers account for about 100,000 accidents every year in the United States, according to the U.S. National Traffic Safety Administration.

The State of Florida still has no law regarding cell phone use for phone calls while driving.  However, there is a new statute which does prohibit any type of typing or texting throughout Florida, and Miami has prohibited hand held cell phone use while driving since 2002.

2.  Driving Under the Influence (DUI), Alcohol, Illegal Drugs, and Prescription Drugs

The only way to prevent this type of accident is to not drink or use any other type of intoxicant, legal or otherwise when driving.  If you are impaired, choose a designated driver in advance

3. Speeding

Speeding is a multi-tiered threat because not only does it reduce the amount of time necessary to avoid a crash, it also increases the risk of crashing and makes the crash more severe if it does occur. In fact, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), when speed increases from 40 mph to 60 mph, the energy released in a crash more than doubles. Simply slowing down and obeying posted speed limits can go a long way toward making the roads safer.

4. Aggressive Driving Is A Major Issue in Miami Accidents

The following list is not exhaustive, but provides some of the most likely types of agressive driving that might cause a car accident.

• Aggressive tailgating
• Aggressive or rude gestures
• Deliberately preventing another driver from moving their vehicle
• Yelling at another driver
• Disregarding traffic signals
• Changing lanes in an unsafe manner
• Failure to yield the right of way

5. Miami Weather Can Certainly Cause Auto Accidents – Truck Accidents, Too

Inclement weather, including heavy rain, hail, high winds and fog can make driving more difficult. You’ll need more time to stop and may have trouble seeing the road clearly.  The torrential downpours that we experience in the Miami area are a common cause of car accidents.  Pull off the road to a rest stop (or to the side of the road, well out of the traffic lanes) until conditions improve.