Statistics from a recent study show a higher number of veterans are involved in car accidents after returning from an overseas deployment of duty. Insurance leaders announced a 13 percent increase in the number of car accidents caused by veterans who have been deployed overseas in recent years. The erratic driving pattern has been identified as a symptom of traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder.

The armed services and the insurance industry are working together to create clinical trials and programs that offer veterans returning from overseas educational sessions focused on discovering why they have a tendency to drive aggressively or overly defensively. The sessions are geared toward uncovering the triggers underlying such driving behavior, and methods to correct it.

That engagement is timely and necessary, given statistics showing that 48 veterans were fatal car accident victims last year. That is the highest such number in three years.

The study shows that the highest percentage of car accident victims were veterans of the Vietnam or Persian Gulf wars. Unique circumstances surrounded veterans who returned from Afghanistan and Iraq. These soldiers, including service members from Louisiana, were trained to drive closer to the center stripe to avoid roadside bombs. Combing the roadside for dangers and speeding up a vehicle through intersections to avoid gunfire were also reported.

Statistics also showed that veterans who are home longer than six months are less likely to cause a car accident; however, the anxiety associated with the dangers of war, as well as the driver training during combat, can manifest itself at any time while driving. Increased stress while being parked in a closed-in parking lot was also a trigger symptom for most veterans.

Source: New York Times, "Back from war, fear and danger fill driver's seat" James Dao, Jan. 10, 2012