According to research from the Association for Safe International Road Travel, approximately 1.3 million individuals pass away in car accidents every year, making this the 9th leading cause of fatalities overall. The majority of fatal car accidents happen in low to middle-income countries. In fact, 90% of these accidents happen in countries like this.

According to the data, however, there was no correlation between fatality rate and maximum speed limit. Some researchers have speculated that poor infrastructure and more dangerous cars are leading causes of accidents. Another possible factor could be lack of use of seatbelts. Research data was pulled from the World Health Organization. Despite the fact that lower and middle-income countries were heavily impacted in this particular research study, there are still alarming numbers of accidents that happen in the United States.

This is despite the fact that the United States has one of the leading rates for technology development and car safety as well as numerous regulations specifically designed to minimize car accident injuries and deaths. The research study indicated that the Dominican Republic was the country with the highest number of fatalities as a result of car accidents.