Plenty of regulations and technology enhancements have been put into vehicles recently and a new study shows that all of that effort has gone somewhere. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration study has concluded that newer cars are safer and that regulations have had many benefits for minimizing the serious injuries associated with accidents.

Cars older than 1984 were associated with the highest fatality rates across the United States. Incidents occurred in older model vehicles leading to fatalities in much higher numbers than those cars manufactured in recent years. While this is not applicable to every single model across the board, the general trend over the last 15 years is for the vast majority of cars to pack on the pounds. Newer cars may just save your life in an accident. 

This means that many cars weigh more. According to the proportion of accidents killed in vehicle crashes broken down by model year, more than 55% were represented with those cars older than 1984, whereas only 26% of vehicle fatalities were associated with cars from between 2013 and 2017.

Having an older car doesn’t in and of itself mean that you are more likely to be catastrophically injured, but if you drive it regularly and do not keep up with maintenance, you may be putting yourself at a higher risk category. If you have already been hurt in a serious San Diego vehicle accident, schedule a time to talk to an experienced accident lawyer today.