No one wants to be in an auto accident. They can be expensive, traumatizing and life-altering.
If you live in Indiana, you may wonder where it is safest and most dangerous to drive. Data presented by the Indiana University Public Policy Institute can help provide answers.
Are these the most dangerous counties to drive in?
According to the Indiana Crash Facts publication, these 15 counties had the most recorded car accidents in 2020.
- Marion – 28,701
- Lake – 15,178
- Allen – 11,156
- Joseph – 7,142
- Hamilton – 6,196
- Elkhart – 6,026
- Tippecanoe – 5,356
- Hendricks – 4,181
- Porter – 4,161
- Vanderburgh – 4,066
- Clark – 3,616
- Madison – 3,400
- Delaware – 3,277
- Johnson – 3,249
- LaPorte – 3,183
Does population count?
It is difficult to look at this information without considering related data as well. When you take the county population into account, the picture shifts. When you examine accident rates against the 2020 census population, the top five counties for accidents are:
Lake – population 498,700; accident rate 30.44%
Clark – population 121,093; accident rate 29.86%
Marion – population 977,203; accident rate 29.37%
Delaware – population 111,903; accident rate 29.28%
Elkhart – population 207,047; accident rate 29.10%
Are urban accidents more severe?
In 2020, fatal collisions were more likely to happen in nonurban areas.
In rural areas, 10 out of 1,000 collisions involved a fatality. While more than half of all collisions occurred on urban roads, the rate of fatal collisions per 1,000 was actually the lowest there, with only three fatal collisions out of every 1,000.
While they can occur anywhere, most auto accidents occur in urban areas, while the most severe accidents happen in rural areas.