Worst Highways in the U.S.A.

[David Blanchard]

Horace Greeley had it all wrong: If you want to avoid the deadliest roads in America, definitely do NOT go west. Eight of the 10 worst patches of interstate are in California, Arizona, Nevada and Texas, with the other two being in Florida. Apparently, all that sunshine induces too many people to head for the highways, helping to contribute to a higher proportion of fatalities than other areas of the country.

Here's a link to the news story on the deadliest highways, along with a state-by-state analysis of fatality rates compiled by the government.

The good news, though, is that overall, highway fatalities are on the decrease throughout the country. According to the National Safety Council, "[M]otor vehicle deaths in 2008 achieved the lowest rate since the NSC began publishing its annual Injury Facts statistical report in the 1920s. The estimated annual death rate from motor vehicle-related crashes in 2008 was 13 deaths per 100,000 people, a 9% decrease from 2007, according to NSC data. The estimated annual mileage death rate for 2008 was 1.38 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, a 4% decrease from 2007."

[bradintx]

CA and TX have lots of drivers so the raw numbers should be higher, simple law of averages. Look at the per 100M miles and CA is below the national average and TX is right at it.

NY state is low because the city has lots of people but not many miles driven due to the mass transit.

AZ and FL are high due to the high percentage of old people. The very old and the very young tend to be worst drivers. The very old though probably driving slower are less likely to survive an accident that someone younger would have survived so deaths go up.

I have no facts to back any of the above - just trying to apply some common logic. Any thoughts?

[ThemBoots]

Brad, there you go applying common sense and logic. You have spoiled a perfectly good sensational headline.

Next thing you know, someone will figure out that Texas has more tornados than any other state. Of course the size of Texas would have nothing to do with that!

[David Blanchard]

Originally Posted by bradintx

I have no facts to back any of the above - just trying to apply some common logic. Any thoughts?

I suspect your conclusions are probably close to the mark, but you might be overanalyzing the results. The news report was mostly just stating which roads had the most fatalities over the past five years. Given the large number of vehicles on these roads at any given time, or a higher-than-usual percentage of old/young drivers on the road, another logical conclusion would be: When traveling to San Bernadino, take the back roads.

[David Blanchard]

This past weekend, Parade Magazine got into the act and posted its own list of the country's worst roads. Their basic premise wasn't necessarily how dangerous these roads are, in terms of fatalities, but rather how crummy they are to drive on (potholes, nightmarish traffic, etc.). Read the gorey details here.