Abstract
US income tax day occurs yearly around April 15 and is a stressful deadline for millions of US adults. Tax payments influence the long-term health of the economy, but no study has tested how tax deadlines might affect the immediate health of individuals. The authors have investigated the number of individuals involved in a fatal road crash on tax day under the prespecified hypothesis that stressful deadlines might increase the risk of road trauma by impairing drivers or by compromising surrounding individuals from making compensatory adjustments. (Author/publisher)