New Study Shows Spike in Traffic Fatalities on Tax Day
Are you stressing out about the tax deadline of April 17 coming up next week? If so, then you’re not alone. In fact, Tax Day itself could be dangerous. A new study suggests that drivers are at a heightened risk of dying in a car accident on that dreadful day.
The study was published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers sifted through IRS Tax Day data between 1980 and 2009, and then compared that with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s crash statistics for those dates. They also picked a couple of dates a week before and after Tax Day to compare the statistics to.
Their findings show that 19,500 people suffered fatal injuries in a car accident over the past 30 years on that most stressful of days. On the control days, only 13,000 people perished. This equates to 226 deaths per Tax Day compared with 213 on control days.
The researchers figure that stress, unrestful sleep, the consumption of alcohol, or an overall change in a person’s drivings habits might contribute to this spike. The authors of the study want safety organizations to increase their efforts to spread awareness about good driving habits.
As a personal injury lawyer in Sacramento, I find the results of this study to be fascinating. I guess it makes sense that people rushing to and fro while worrying about how they’re going to pay their taxes would create somewhat of an internal distraction that could influence driving patterns. To combat this, I urge everyone to keep the stress at home and not on the road. Such is my advice as a Sacramento car accident attorney.
