77% of car accidents 15 miles or less from home?

[pt]

wow,

so a pal of mine sent me a note saying that since most of my trips in my car -used- to be within 15 miles of my home, i was more likely to get in a car accident than he was and a segway ht makes sense for me (but not for him since he goes 50+ miles per day, which i of course agree with). i wasn't sure about the 15 miles thing...so i googled and found this:

http://www.drivingtoday.com/cartrackers/features/archive/crashes/

progressive asked 11,000 of its auto insurance policyholders who reported accidents in 2001 how close to home they were when the accident happened. fifty-two percent reported they were 5 miles or less from home, and 77 percent reported they were within 15 miles of home.

where accidents happen:

miles from home -percentage of accidents
----------------------------------------
1 mile or less -23 percent
2 to 5 miles -29 percent
6 to 10 miles 1-7 percent
11 to 15 miles -8 percent
16 to 20 miles -6 percent
more than 20 miles -17 percent

so-- if most accidents with cars are happening within the range of the segway ht, it would seem that having a choice of the ht vs something that weighs 2,000 lbs and goes 60mph is a good choice if you're up for it.

cheers,
pt

http://www.bookofseg.com

[BruceWright]

I think those numbers are merely an artifact of the fact that most trips are within 15 miles from home, so it makes sense that most accidents are that close too.

Also, the closer you are to home, the more likely you are on surface streets, which are more accident-prone per mile than the highway.


Looking at those numbers, it's easy to divine a solution that seems to make sense, but is actually kooky:

I'll just park my car 6 miles from my house and take my Segway to it every morning!


(But your point is well taken. Surface-street driving is more dangerous than long-distance driving, and fewer cars on the road will cut down on accidents.)

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream