[absherwin]

Minor crashes are even more frequent than the article estimates. Thus, the real human accident rate is even higher. Probably between 1 in every 24000 and 87000 miles.

The VTI driving study[1] equipped 100 cars with sensors and was therefore able to measure all crashes experienced. It directly measured 1 crash per 24000 miles. If we extrapolate based on the 17.4% police report rate, that suggests 1 per 87000 miles.

[1]http://www.nhtsa.gov/DOT/NHTSA/NRD/Multimedia/PDFs/Crash%20A...

[aetherson]

That's an interesting study. I'd be cautious at trying to create a one-line conclusion from it. It is, however, a fascinating full read, and not very long and not very technical, so I'd encourage people to read the whole thing.

Note the narrow demographic data and geographic data.