Students, Doctors and Lawyers More Likely to Have Traffic Accidents

According to a recent report by San Francisco-based consulting firm, Quality Planning Corp., students, medical doctors and attorneys are three occupations most often involved in traffic accidents. Architects and real estate agents also placed in the top five, fourth and fifth place respectively, occupations more likely to be involved in automobile accidents.

Quality Planning studied the occupations of individuals involved in auto accidents and speeding violations per 1,000 drivers per year, and found students top both lists, with 152 accidents per 1,000 drivers and 87 speeding violations per 1,000 drivers annually. By examining 40 different occupations, the firm found the bottom five occupations–those least likely to be in accidents–were homemakers, politicians, pilots, firefighters and farmers. In fact, students were 3.5 times more likely to be involved in traffic accidents than farmers were.

As for speeding, with the exception of students and architects, the top five occupations change. Enlisted military, manual laborers and politicians topped the list. The bottom five occupations–those least likely to speed–were teachers, secretaries, law-enforcement officers, librarians and homemakers.

Many people might be surprised to see doctors and lawyers grouped together with students as those who are likely to be in accidents. “It goes against our understanding of the business,” said Daniel Finnegan, president and founder of Quality Planning. “What we know is that higher-educated people tend to have lower risk. Professionals tend to have lower risk. Doctors and lawyers tend to be people with a higher income, and that tends to lower risk. As we get older, our risk goes down. The mean age of doctors and lawyers was 42 and 43. Yet they have more accidents than others.”