The statistics quoted actually state that the odds of being the victim of violent crime are higher than your odds of being INJURED in an automobile accident, not merely being INVOLVED in one.
Ok, now I'm going to make some folks mad. Many are immediately going to assume that I'm anti-gun, or anti-self-defense, or anti-carry, but I'm none of those things. I carry daily, I am definitely pro-gun, and I am definitely in favor of laws that give citizens wide latitude to use deadly force in self-defense.
But numbers are my game and so I tend to pay attention to them. I think it's important to be accurate.
I always wonder: "Why?", when the stats compared don't match. In this case, the comparison is between 2017 automobile statistics and 2018 violence. I ask myself why the comparison wouldn't be done 2017 to 2017 or 2018 to 2018?
In 2017, there were 2.7 million Americans injured in car crashes in the U.S.
https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812794
In 2018, there were 4.5 million Americans seriously injured in car crashes in the U.S. That's likely why the lower 2017 automobile figures were used instead since the 2018 figures wouldn't provide as favorable a comparison.
https://ohsonline.com/articles/2019/02/18/nsc-motor-vehicle-deaths.aspx?m=1
The quotes talk about violent crimes but when I checked the FBI UCR statistics, they are much lower than the quoted figures. The FBI violent crime figures are 1.2-1.3 million per year for the 2017/2018 timeframe.
However, I found a BJS report that talks about "violent incidents" and that appears to be the figure used in the quotes as the number of "violent crimes". That same report also appears to provide the victim statistics in the quotes. I don't know precisely what differentiates a violent crime (FBI UCR definition) from a violent incident (BJS definition), but it appears that the BJS includes "simple assault" in their statistic which could account for the difference as the FBI figure doesn't seem to.
https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cv18.pdf
It's worth pointing out that many of the offenses which meet the definition of simple assault would not justify the use of deadly force and that makes it questionable to include such offenses in a statistic that is intended to justify carrying a handgun.
Ok, back to comparing numbers. The number of BJS "violent incidents" and the number of BJS "victims" is much higher for 2018 than 2017, which likely accounts for why the higher 2018 figures were used instead of the lower 2017 figures.
Here are the accurate figures, as far as I can tell for both 2017 and 2018.
2017--2.7 million injured in car wrecks, 1.89 million injury accidents, 6.45 million accidents. 2.7 million victims of violent incidents (BJS Stat), 1.25 million violent crimes (FBI UCR Stat), 5.2 million violent incidents (BJS Stat).
2018--4.5 million injured in car wrecks, 1.89 million injury accidents, 6.73 million accidents. 3.3 million victims of violent incidents (BJS Stat), 1.2 million violent crimes (FBI UCR Stat), 6.0 million violent incidents (BJS Stat).
So, conclusions:
Now it's clear why the comparison was between the higher 2018 BJS victim numbers and the lower 2017 car wreck numbers instead of comparing 2017 to 2017 or 2018 to 2018.
The chances of being the victim of a BJS "violent incident"
in 2018 were, indeed, higher than the chances of being injured in a car wreck
in 2017, however, that can't be said when comparing 2017 figures to 2017 or when comparing 2018 figures to 2018.
In either 2017 or 2018, it seems clear that the odds of being a victim of an FBI UCR "violent crime" (1.2-1.3 million such crimes a year) is much lower than any of the automobile statistics.
In 2017:
The chance of being injured in a car wreck was about equal to the chance of being a victim of a BJS "violent incident".
The chance of being involved in an injury accident was lower than the chance of being a victim of a BJS "violent incident".
The chance of merely being involved in a car wreck was much higher than the chance of being the victim of a BJS "violent incident".
In 2018:
The chance of being injured in a car wreck was higher than the chance of being a victim of a BJS "violent incident".
The chance of being involved in an injury accident was lower than the chance of being a victim of a BJS "violent incident".
The chance of merely being involved in a car wreck was much higher than the chance of being the victim of a BJS "violent incident".
It does appear that if you include simple assault in the definition of "violent crime" then the annual victimization figures are similar to the annual injuries sustained in car wrecks.