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How to Increase Your Chances of Surviving a Car Accident

Mar 23, 2022

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No matter how safely you drive or how little traffic there is, there's always a risk of being involved in a car accident. Other negligent drivers are unpredictable and almost impossible to totally avoid. 

But with the right strategies, you can maximize your chances of surviving such an accident.

What to Do If You Survive a Car Accident

If you do survive a bad car accident, there are a few things you'll need to do in the immediate aftermath of the collision.

First, get to safety and call for help. The initial collision may be over, but that doesn't mean the danger has fully passed. Make sure you get your car and yourself to a safe place, out of the way of incoming traffic. Then, call for an ambulance and a police officer so you can file a report.

Second, gather evidence. Take photos and videos of the area, including damage to you, your vehicle, and other pieces of property. Consider talking to witnesses and getting statements from them.

Third, contact a personal injury lawyer. Your personal injury lawyer will help you gather evidence, build a case, and ultimately get compensation for your injuries and any property damage you sustained.

Strategies to Increase Your Odds of Survival

So what steps can you take to increase your odds of surviving a major car collision?

  •       Buy a safer car. One option is to buy a safer car. Different vehicles affords you different levels of physical protection; some are heavy and highly durable, capable of taking great amounts of force without rolling or presenting problems to the people inside. Others are lighter and more fragile, capable of being obliterated by a sufficiently forceful impact.

  •       Wear a seatbelt. Between their introduction in 1975 and 2017, it’s estimated that seatbelts have saved 374,276 lives. Wearing a seatbelt is by far the best safest and easiest strategy a driver or passenger can follow. Seatbelts keep you restrained, all but eliminating the possibility of ejection from the vehicle, which often ends in death.

  •       Enable airbags. For most drivers and passengers, airbags serve an important safety purpose with few downsides. As long as the airbag deploys and hits you appropriately, it can cushion your impact and reduce the amount of force hitting your body.

  •       Keep loose items stored. Most people don't think much about the loose items they store in their car. But during a forceful collision, all those loose items can turn into dangerous projectiles. Getting hit in the face buy a heavy item that was in your passenger seat could greatly increase your risk of injury or death, so before you leave on your journey, make sure all your loose items are stored and secured.

  •       Maintain an appropriate posture while driving. While driving, maintain inappropriate posture. That means sitting upright with your hands and arms in front of you and your head facing the road. Leaning to the side, putting up a foot, or practicing some other strange posture could make it much likelier for you to be seriously injured during a collision.

  •       Reduce your speed. One of the best strategies for driving more safely also has the added benefit of reducing your odds of getting seriously hurt or killed if you do end up in an accident: reducing your speed. Slowing down gives you more time to react to the things that change in your environment. It also reduces your speed of impact, reducing the amount of force you would experience in certain types of collision.

  •       Increase your following distance. Increasing your following distance is similarly beneficial, giving you more time to react to the cars in front of you and thereby reducing your risk of being involved in an accident. This also has the added bonus of reducing your impact speed, and therefore your impact force, in certain types of collisions. For example, if you rear end a car in front of you, but you have ample space between your vehicles, you'll have plenty of time to slow down enough do lessen the impact.

  •       Call for help immediately. Don't wait to call for help. After an accident, your adrenaline and your sense of surprise may mask your feelings of pain or make you believe that you're unharmed, when in reality, you've suffered a lot of damage. Always visit a hospital to get checked out.

  •       Buy a first aid kit. Simple car first aid kits tend to be inexpensive (and relatively easy to put together on your own, if you’re so inclined), so there’s no excuse not to have one in your vehicle. If you or one of your passengers is seriously harmed, it could have exactly what you need to stay alive long enough for help to arrive.


Hopefully, your defensive driving strategies and obedience to traffic laws will greatly minimize your chances of ever being involved in a car accident. But if you also follow these strategies and strive to be an even safer driver, you can maximize your odds of survival if the worst happens.

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