Great thinkers have quipped that life offers few certaintiesother than death and taxes, and for an alarming number of U.S.drivers, these two seem oddly intertwined.

A new study published in today's issue of the Journal of theAmerican Medical Association (JAMA) suggests that“Tax Day” pressures and stressors create real risk for thosenavigating the roads. After analyzing 30 years of data,researchers found that auto fatalities ramp up around April15—the customary deadline to file U.S. income tax—when compared toa day during the week prior and week later.

Dr. Donald Redelmeier, a professor of medicine at Canada'slargest trauma center, led the study with University of Torontocolleague Christopher Yarnell. Specifically, Redelmeier said thesurge in fatalities could possibly be attributed to stressfuldeadlines that cause driver distraction and human errors.

“Other possibilities might be more driving [thanusual], sleep deprivation, lack of attention, and less tolerancetoward hassles,” he adds. “Another contributor could be decreasedlaw enforcement, as the police, themselves, might be busy withtheir own tax deadlines.”

The last-minute scramble assuredly creates a veritable obstaclecourse of cars whizzing by and pedestrians who are oblivious to surroundings, but what about those opting tosubmit forms online? Surprisingly, with added capability ofelectronic processing or what some refer to as “e-file,” has failedto put a dent in such fatalities.

Drawing from road safety information supplied by the NationalHighway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for a period of 30years (1980 through 2009), Redelmeier and Yarnell examined thenumber of fatal crashes on each tax deadline day as well as thesurrounding days and weeks. In doing so, the researchers observed atotal of 19,541 individuals were involved in fatal crashes duringthe 30 tax days and 60 control days. The 30 tax days accounted for6,783 individuals, which is equivalent to 226 per day.

By contrast, Redelmeier and Yarnell identified a total of 12,758individuals during the 60 control days, which is equivalent to 213per day. The risk therefore was six-percent higher on income taxdeadline day and equal to an absolute increase of 404 deaths overthe study—or about 13 individuals for the average tax day.

The increased propensity toward being invovled in an accidentwas not restricted to certain regions of the U.S. Rather, TaxDay-related risks apply to passengers and pedestrians acrossdaylight hours, demographic groups, and levels of alcoholconsumption.

Both researchers stress the importance of taking additionalsafety precautions on April 17 this year to save livesand millions in associated claims and other costs tosociety.

The study was supported by the Canada Research Chair inMedical Decision Science and the Canadian Institutes ofHealth Research.