CarInsurance.com did a study of 42,000 online auto insurance quotes and discovered that the “classic two-car accident” is but one of many types of reported car collisions. It is certainly the most common, but it comprises less than half of total accident types. Only 45 percent of accident reports between 2011 and 2013 were those in which a vehicle was struck by another vehicle. Single-car accidents occurred 7.9 percent of the time, acts of nature 5.8 percent of the time, and being struck while parked occurred 5 percent of the time.

Meanwhile, the Lowman Law Firm reports that the five most common car accidents involve Low Speed Impacts, Frontal Impacts, Rear Impacts, Side Collisions and Intersectional Collisions.

Low speed impacts don’t strike a lot of fear into people’s hearts, which is understandable. They are usually defined as collisions that happen while the vehicle is going under 10 mph. However, it’s still possible to incur injury at low speed, including whiplash. Elderly drivers and pedestrians, as well as children, are also susceptible to greater injury.

For frontal impacts, the only good thing that can be said about them is that you can usually see them coming. The bad thing is that almost every part of your body can potentially be injured in a frontal impact.

In the case of rear impacts, these are usually caused by the person behind you not paying attention or being rammed from behind themselves. In California, the driver who rear-ends you will commonly be found to be at fault.

Side collisions and intersectional collisions are similar in that they frequently result in one driver being t-boned by another. Intersectional collisions can occur when someone runs a red light or stop sign or really, really believes the yellow’s going to last. Unfortunately, once a driver is inside an intersection, he or she can be hit from just about any direction.

It’s important that you practice road safety and consult your owner’s manual to find out where your vehicle’s airbags are. Precision Collision can fix your car, but we can’t fix you.