Benjamin Franklin’s famous quip “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” has a closer connection than he knew.

A 30-year study of traffic accidents in the United States has found that the country’s mid-April tax deadline day is associated with an increased risk of fatal crashes according to a study published in this week’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

The study indicates that you have a 6% increased risk of dying in a traffic accident on tax  day!   They suspect that a general elevated stress level is what causes driver errors leading to an increase in fatalities. 

The Canadian Press article published April 11,2012 quoted, “We find about the same increase in risk both during the morning hours, the afternoon hours and the evening hours,” said lead researcher Donald Redelmeier, an internal medicine specialist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto.  “So it’s not all confined to the 11th hour, right before the stroke of midnight. But it prevails for the full day.”  Read more…

So, perhaps Ben Franklin should have added “except death and taxes – but cheat death by driving cautiously on tax day!”

Source: The Canadian Press - Apr 11, 2012  Tax filing stress boosts risk of fatal auto accidents: study