You may have wondered about all the different factors that influence whether or not you will be injured in a car accident. People talk about different types of cars that crash more often, different age groups that get in more accidents, how driving at night is more dangerous than driving during the day, and many other things of this nature.
But maybe you’ve wondered if education level plays any role at all. Say that you have an advanced degree from a prestigious college. Do your years of study mean that you’ll be less likely to be involved in a serious crash? Does this hold true even though you weren’t actually studying anything to do with driving safety?
There is a correlation, and it may not protect you
First of all, a study that looked into this did find that fatality rates in car accidents were much higher for those who had a lower level of education. Simply put, the longer someone stayed in school, the less likely they were to be involved in a deadly crash.
But the study also found that age played a large role, something that has been backed up by many other studies over the years. Younger drivers have much higher fatal crash rates. In fact, the highest fatal accident rates of all are among drivers who are 16 and 17 years old. Even including 18 and 19-year-olds, the fatal accident rate is twice as high as for older drivers.
This could show that some of the link between education is actually just due to age. Someone who is 16 years old is certainly far less educated than someone who is 22 and just graduated from college. But this isn’t their fault in any sense, as they simply aren’t old enough to have had all those educational experiences. They may someday reach 22 years old themselves, and then their accident odds may fall, both because they’re older and because they have been able to complete their education.
Another thing to consider is that your own education may not actually protect you on the road. Many people are injured or even killed in accidents that they had almost nothing to do with. Someone else made a mistake. You have to share the road with drivers who are not going to be nearly as safe as you are, and one of them can definitely cause a crash that leads to your own injuries.
What should you do if this happens?
If you do get involved in an accident caused by another driver, then you may be able to seek financial compensation for your medical bills and other costs.