- There are approximately 74.8 million owned dogs in the United States (Reported by The Humane Society of the United States)
- Over 29 million dog owners in the United States travel in their vehicles with their dogs. (Reported by the Travel Industry Association of America)
- Only 20% of US pet owners use safety restraints on their animals while traveling in their car or truck. (Reported by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association)
- Over 30,000 accidents a year are caused by dogs riding in the front seat of the vehicle unrestrained. (Reported by the American Automobile Association)
Dog in Car - Not Restrained
And what about numbers are not be studied or reported?
29 million dog owners traveling with their dogs – since many dog owners have more than one dog, that number does not reflect the actual number of dogs riding in cars and trucks.
But for statistical purposes, let’s use that figure of 29 million. Only 20% – 5,800,000 – of those dogs are restrained while traveling. That leaves 23,200,000 running loose in the vehicle while their owner is driving.
The 30,000 people willing to admit that their dog caused their accident are all insured by AAA. Imagine if every auto insurer conducted the same survey with their insured drivers as the American Automobile Association (AAA).
Think of all of the auto insurance carriers – All State, Farmers, State Farm, Travelers, Mercury, Nationwide, Progressive, Geico, AARP, Safeco and more. A survey of their clients may yield different numbers than those obtained by AAA, but you can be sure that the dog owners insured by AAA are not the only owners who have had accidents because their dog was not using a dog seat belt or dog car harness.
We will never know the true number of accidents caused by dogs jumping around the vehicle unrestrained. But we can imagine from the above study and survey results that the numbers are too high.
Thankfully, 20% of pet owners do use dog seat belts and dog car harnesses. Won’t you join them?
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