Study: Tax deadline day can be deadly on US roads

[WestVirginiaRebel]

AP:

CHICAGO (AP) -- The two certainties in life - death and taxes - may be more intertwined than Ben Franklin ever imagined: A study found that deadly auto accidents increase on Tax Day.

Drivers recklessly racing to the post office to meet the deadline might be one reason. Or it could be that stressing over taxes distracts motorists and contributes to human error, researchers said.

They looked at 30 years of data and found 6,783 traffic-related deaths on Tax Day, or 226 per day. That compares with 213 per day on one day a week before the deadline day and another day a week after.

Drivers were slightly less likely than passengers and pedestrians to be killed.

The traffic death rate on Tax Day - which usually falls on April 15 - was 6 percent higher than on other April days. That doesn't sound like a lot, but lead author Dr. Donald Redelmeier said it means an average of about 13 extra deaths per day and amounts to about $40 million in annual losses to society.

That estimate includes loss of life, injury and property damage costs, said Redelmeier, a physician and researcher at the University of Toronto.

The researchers analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The results appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association.

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The IRS kills people!