Weather-Related Car Accidents Far More Deadly Than Tornadoes, Hurricanes, Floods

Chris Dolce
Published: November 9,2016
The violent visuals produced by tornadoes, hurricanes and flooding rainfall draw a large amount of attention to the deaths and damage they cause annually, but weather-related vehicle accidents contribute to a much larger number of fatalities in the U.S. than all three of those weather phenomena combined.
(MORE: What Is the Deadliest Weather?)
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) says that more than 5,748,000 vehicle crashes occur each year based on statistics from the 10 years spanning 2005-2014. About 22 percent of those, or close to 1,259,000, involved hazardous weather.

Annual average vehicle crash statistics. Data from U.S. DOT.

Those U.S. weather-related automobile crashes have killed an average of nearly 5,900 people annually, accounting for about 16 percent of all vehicular deaths, the DOT says. Another 445,000+ were injured each year during that same period of time.
For comparison, the 10-year average combined number of deaths each year from flooding, lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes, and heat is 375.

Average annual number of deaths by weather type during the last 30 years.

Among the hazards included in the DOT statistics for weather-related vehicle crashes are wet pavement, rain, snow/sleet, icy pavement, snow/slushy pavement, and fog.
We are now in a time of year, late-fall to early-spring, when all of those weather conditions are a possibility across many roadways in the U.S.
Wet pavement and rain were the top two contributors to weather-related automobile crashes based on the 10-year averages, followed by winter weather hazards and fog. It's probably no surprise that wet pavement and rain cause the largest majority of deaths in weather-related accidents given that particular hazard is in play during all seasons.
(MORE: Surprising Facts About Fog)

Sudden Visibility Reductions Pose Big Danger

Driving situations that feature rapidly changing weather conditions are particularly hazardous to drivers. A heavy snow squall, dense fog, or blinding rain can reduce visibility from good to just a few feet in front of you in a matter of seconds.
Such was the case in February 2016, when a burst of heavy snow led to a pile up of 50 cars on Interstate 78 in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, that left three people death. There are numerous other large pileups each winter involving localized bursts of heavy snow that drop visibility very quickly.

Vehicles pile up at the site of a fatal crash near Fredericksburg, Pa., Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. The pileup left tractor-trailers, box trucks and cars tangled together across several lanes of traffic and into the snow-covered median. (James Robinson/PennLive.com via AP)

This past March featured a strange situation where glare from the sun reflecting off wet pavement led to a pileup of more than 130 cars in North Carolina. Over 20 people were injured, but no lives were lost.
Fog and blowing dust are also significant threats to reduced visibility at a moments notice.
Often fog-related accidents involve motorists driving too fast for conditions and following other vehicles too closely. Sometimes, rapid changes in visibility can trigger major accidents as visibility drops from good to almost zero in a short distance.
(MORE: Tragic Fog Crashes From the Past)

Even Small Amounts of Ice Can Be Dangerous

Drizzle in subfreezing temperatures may not seem like a big deal, but to unsuspecting motorists, it poses a major threat. Even a light glazing of ice on bridges and roads can cause treacherous driving conditions.
A recent example of this occurred on the morning of Jan. 15, 2015, when light freezing drizzle affected several states in the Northeast U.S. Even though freezing drizzle was brief and confined to the morning hours, hundreds of accidents occurred. The icy travel conditions that morning contributed to the deaths of nine people.
It was not a major storm system, but it was highly impactful.

MORE:  Photos from Feburary 2016 Pileup in Pennsylvania