According to government crash data, side-impacts account for 23% of all fatal crashes. This amounted to more than 9,000 deaths in 2001. Again, according to government crash data, the number of drivers killed in side-impacts has increased by 20% in the last two decades. The increase is a result of a fewer fatalities in frontal crashes and a larger population of light trucks, which are 3.5 times more likely to be cause a fatal injuries to drivers in passenger cars in side impacts than another passenger car.
