‘Clumsy’ is a word many people use to describe themselves, especially if they’re somewhat accident-prone and have a habit of tripping over, knocking into things, or dropping stuff. However, while this is a word America uses a lot, we decided to dig a little deeper into why certain people are clumsier than others, and if their name has anything to do with it…
To do this we interrogated our internal personal injury claims data, to reveal a list of the ‘Clumsiest People in America’.
The research revealed that people named Joshua and Angela were the most accident-prone, while men were also revealed to be a third (28%) clumsier than women, based on all of our filed personal injury claims from the last twelve months.
The twenty most accident-prone names, across men and women, are:
Clumsy Men Names
- Joshua
- Christopher
- Noah
- Brian
- Eric
- Calvin
- David
- Brandon
- William/Bill
- Tim
Clumsy Woman Names
- Angela
- Karen
- Daisy
- Louisa
- Helen
- Tricia
- Emma
- Katie
- Olivia
- Sophie
We ranked this list based on how frequently citizens with a certain name submitted a personal injury claim either for themselves or on behalf of a child.
Every personal injury claim from the past 12 months involving accidental personal injuries was interrogated, such as; falling, slipping or tripping over either in the workplace, home or in a public setting like a supermarket. We didn’t include motor vehicle accidents as part of the study.
We also found that men are a third (28%) more likely to cause accidental injury to themselves than women, however looking at claims involving slips and falls in the workplace, women were involved in a fifth (18%) more cases.
In regard to personal injury payouts and settlements, our internal data showed that claimants were awarded $100,000 on average.
Findings from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that in 2018 alone, there were 130m total ER visits across the country, while the number of injury-related visits reached 35m. This equates to 40.4 ER visits per 100 people in the United States, with 16.2m of these visits resulting in hospital admission*.
Andy Gillin, managing partner of GJEL, said,
“While we know that personal injuries are no laughing matter, we hope this more lighthearted approach will help to shine a light on how common personal injury claims can be, and will perhaps encourage people to get in touch if they feel they’re owed compensation for an accident that wasn’t their fault.
“As we began interrogating our data it was interesting to see the names fall into place – to be honest I know a few Joshuas, and I can personally vouch for their clumsiness! It will be interesting to see if Joshuas and Angelas are able to retain their crown this time next year, or if other names will take up the mantle”
This study was conducted by the San Jose Personal Injury Lawyers at GJEL.
Sources:
*https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/emergency-department.htm
Andy Gillin received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of California at Berkeley and his law degree from the University of Chicago. He is the managing partner of GJEL Accident Attorneys and has written and lectured in the field of plaintiffs’ personal injury law for numerous organizations. Andy is a highly recognized wrongful death lawyer in California.