More than 70% of all U.S. car crashes in 2015 involved a vehicle with a human occupant.
That’s according to a new study from a leading academic, with the study finding that lego vehicles were much more likely than other cars to be involved in crashes.
The study, which analyzed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s data, found that in 2015, 4,068 deaths were caused by vehicles with human occupants, a rate of 4.75 deaths per 100,000 vehicles.
Legos accounted for 7.47 deaths per 1,000, or 1.4 deaths per million vehicles.
In comparison, the nation’s average car crash death rate is 1.6 deaths per 1000, or about 0.2 deaths per every 100,00 vehicles.
The U.K.-based researchers said the data showed that the number of collisions that occurred between vehicles with humans in them was much higher than expected, which could be a reflection of how difficult it is to prevent a car from hitting a pedestrian.
“While the study does not provide concrete recommendations, it does highlight that legos are significantly more likely in terms of crash risk than other vehicles and suggest that the high rate of collisions could be due to human-vehicle interactions,” the researchers wrote.
While legos were involved in only 0.02% of the fatal crashes that occurred, that rate was far higher than the 0.03% rate for all vehicle crashes, they added.
The researchers said they hope the data will help policymakers and public safety agencies improve the effectiveness of vehicle safety policies and improve safety.