Study lists states with most dangerous rural roads
The National Center for Excellence in Rural Safety (CERS) at the University of Minnesota has released a list of states with the country’s must dangerous rural roads in correlation with the July 4 holiday, during which traffic accidents are expected to rise. Maine tops the list, with 92 percent of its traffic fatalities occurring on rural roads.
CERS based the list on state-by-state data on deaths on rural roads in 2005, along with information from the U.S. Department of Transportation. “Millions of Americans will be driving this holiday weekend, and they would be wise to carefully consider these findings before they do,” said CERS Director Lee Munnich in a press release. The causes of high fatality rates on rural roads — roads outside of areas with populations of 5,000 or more — include a false sense of security that leads to high speeds as drivers enjoy the scenery. Head-on collisions and driving off the road are common accidents on rural roads. The entire list of states is available at www.ruralsafety.umn.edu.
