August 2, 2018—According to the Insurance Journal, August hosts the highest amount of fatal car crashes of any month.
In particular, Thursdaym Aug. 2, is when, on average, car wrecks are likely to kill more Americans than any other day of the year, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which based its calculations on fatalities from 2012 to 2016. A total of 505 people were killed on that day during the period, according to the report.
Sunny skies and vacation travelers, the same reasons the month of August is also one of the deadliest, says Becca Weast, a research scientist at IIHS.
“In the summer, the weather is nice, sunny, and people just are a little more reckless, they’re a little less careful,” Weast said. When the weather is bad or there are other obvious risks that make driving more difficult, “people tend to be a little bit more on guard or more careful,” she said.
August accounted for 15,914 fatalities during the study’s span. The first week of the month is prime vacation time, putting more cars on the road and therefore more chances for an accident. But other than that, “there’s no significant event that makes the first week in August a particular lightning rod for high fatalities,” Weast said.
