Rhode Island Injury Lawyer Blog

With New Year's resolutions coming around the corner, a new study suggests that there may be another reason for the overweight to shed excess pounds. A recent study suggests that obese men and women are far more likely to die in serious auto accidents than are men and women of normal weight.

According to the study:

• A body mass index in the class II obesity range of 35 to less than 40 kg/m2 boosted risk of fatality in a severe crash by 21.2% compared with normal weight;
• And morbidly obese drivers with a BMI of 40 kg/m2 or greater were 55.9% less likely to survive an accident than their normal weight counterparts.

The primary cause for these findings seems to be that obese people are closer to the steering wheel and windshield which may cause traumatic injury upon impact. In addition, there already poor health may make it even more difficult to survive serious injury. The study compared data of over 150,000 auto accident fatalities over the period of five years to arrive at their conclusions.

Interestingly, mildly overweight persons, may experience protection from injury due to their size.