Only three cities had more people injured in automobile accidents than Atlanta, according to a AAA report that examined 2009 traffic data.
More than 62,000 people sustained injuries on Atlanta's roads that year while 498 died in car accidents. The city ranked 6th in traffic-related fatalities, the report revealed.
Crashes, meanwhile, cost the metro area nearly $11 million in 2009, a figure that trailed only Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, the study found.
Nationally, traffic crashes cost society $299.5 billion -- more than three times the $97.7 billion cost of congestion, according to the report. Both totals are nearly double what they were in 2005, the last time AAA studied congestion and crash costs.
"Motorists often think of the burdens associated with congestion during daily commutes, but the $300 billion annual cost of crashes on our society is usually not top of mind, despite the fact that costs are more than three times the amount of congestion," said Michele Harris, AAA's director of traffic safety culture.
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