issue Community Health 2025

“We Need to Intervene”: Casting a Spotlight on Vehicular Crashes

By Margaret Smith
Ateequr Rahman, PhD

Every day across the United States, too many drivers find themselves involved in motor vehicle accidents (MVAs). A startling number fall under the category of “avoidable.” Texting and driving under the influence are leading causes.

A team of four RFU researchers has been working to address the issue: Kirstin Krzyzewski, PharmD ’23; Neishka Ramirez Corchado, COP ’25; Lejla Cukovic, PharmD ’23; and Ateequr Rahman, PhD, who is a professor in and director of research for the College of Pharmacy. Their main objective was to determine if there were patterns that could make sense of the larger problem. They began by analyzing the  National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey — data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This research is the foundation for their article published in the May 2023  Journal of Medical - Clinical Research & Reviews, “Assessment of National Trauma Trends for Motor Vehicle Accidents.”

The findings were sobering. “It’s all avoidable; that’s the sad reality of it,” Dr. Rahman said. “With millions of people dying — and for what?”

One category in their research, for instance, was the time of year. Holidays such as Christmas and Independence Day saw remarkable upticks in accidents — with the former totaling 31.8% of crashes annually.

Vehicle crashes happened most often on Fridays, Dr. Rahman observed, likely due to drivers’ weekend eagerness and an increase in traffic. However, most fatalities took place on Saturdays, something that could also be attributed to driving under the influence.

The age group that suffered the most fatalities was teenagers, ages 13–19, with a 17% fatality rate. Dr. Rahman believes this could be altered by directly working with this demographic.

“You may be asking: ‘What do we need to do?’ We need to intervene. The public health officials or policymakers need to create more resources, more support, more awareness among these groups of people,” Dr. Rahman said. “One of the recommendations of this study is that these vulnerable groups need to be approached. We need to intervene.”

Facts on MVAs

  • Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of death in the United States, with a fatality rate of more than 100 people every day.
  • Traffic deaths trend low from January through March and have sustained elevation from May through October.
  • Leading causes of accidents are bad visibility, unsafe road design, other drivers’ lack of caution, alcohol impairment, underage driving, speeding and weather.
  • In 2019, almost 2,400 teens in the United States ages 13–19 were killed — an average of seven per day — and about 258,000 were treated in emergency departments for injuries suffered in motor-vehicle crashes.
  • Data from 2019 also suggests that the motor-vehicle death rate for male drivers ages 16–19 was more than two times higher than the death rate for female drivers of the same age.

Recommended Mitigation Strategies

  • Strict enforcement of roadside checks for impairment and speeding
  • Stepped-up law enforcement during holidays
  • Defensive driving training for high-risk groups
  • More signs, lighting and enforcement during bad weather
  • Promoting awareness among vulnerable groups

Margaret Smith is a Chicago-based freelance editor and writer whose work largely focuses on current sociopolitical happenings.