Road Traffic Accidents – how many have you been involved in?

Statistics from a study in the US suggest that a driver is likely to be involved in a road traffic accident on average every 17.9 years of their driving career. That accords with UK figures that say each of us is likely to be involved in 3 or 4 collisions during our lifetimes, but that only 30 per cent of us will be injured as a result.

We will never know the true figures as many accidents are not reported to the police or insurers and, despite what the papers and insurers would have us believe, a significant number of injured victims do not make compensation claims.

So how many Road Traffic Accidents have you been involved in?

Since the age of 18, I have been involved in four, being a passenger on one occasion. Three were rear end shunts and one arose as a result of a young driver losing control of his car on a roundabout. Three were not my fault. My wife has been involved in four as well, none of which were her fault.

The worst of these occurred as we were driving in Devon on holiday. We were stationary on the M5 when a young male surfer, driving without his shoes on, drove at speed into the rear of our car. Luckily, none of us were injured. We knew that as two doctors stopped to help us and examined our daughters at the scene. The surfer’s girlfriend was bleeding from an eye socket so after I called 999 (her boyfriend’s phone had a dead battery) an air ambulance arrived and I had to wait to be breathalysed and give a statement to the police. After that I had to organise a hire car and for ours to be towed back to Sheffield.  Not the best way to start a family holiday. I might have forgiven the other driver had he not smashed several bottles of ale in the boot of our car.

In case you were wondering how many personal injury claims have been made by me and members of my family as a result of these accidents, the answer is none. About as many as I expect Sheffield United to score at Fleetwood tomorrow!

Enjoy your weekend

Jonathan Stittle