Enlisted Military at High Risk for Car Accidents at Home
New study by USAA shows that troops continue war-zone driving tactics after they return home, causing a spike in accidents.
By Claire_Martin Apr 25, 2012 7:55AM
Speeding, straddling lanes, not stopping in traffic and making sudden, unpredictable turns are often requirements of driving in a war zone. But when troops return to the U.S., many bring these driving habits home with them, according to a study by the United Services Automobile Association (USAA). The study shows that service members are at significant risk for causing car accidents within the first six months after coming home from deployment. From 2007 to 2010, USAA looked at the pre- and post-deployment driving records of each participant in the study, which covered 158,000 troops who had 171,000 overseas deployments among them. It found a 13 percent rise in at-fault accidents within the first six months of troops returning home. Army veterans' accident rate spiked 23 percent; Marines' increased 12.5 percent; Navy veterans had 3 percent more accidents; and Air Force veterans, 2 percent.
One retired soldier shed some light on the problem. "I didn't like vehicles being too close to me, and I didn't like to drive the same speed as others," retired U.S. Army Master Sgt. Todd Nelson told the Los Angeles Times of his post-deployment experiences on the roads. "I didn't want to let people merge in. That manifested itself in aggressive driving." Nelson had been seriously injured in Afghanistan when a car carrying explosives targeted the vehicle he was in.
Things such as overpasses, road congestion and even potholes or garbage by the roadside can spark alarm in troops driving at home after a deployment. "We might see a pothole repair and think nothing of it, but they might see it as an area to avoid because it might be where [a bomb] is buried," Todd Rockwood, a professor of public health at the University of Minnesota, told the Times.
Critics say that the U.S. military invests a lot of time teaching troops how to drive in war zones, but it doesn't prepare them to drive normally again when they return home.
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