RISKS ON ROADS, Study: Roads are safer in urban areas

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By Chip Somodevilla,

Traffic flows over the American Legion Bridge along the I-495 beltway between Virginia and Maryland.

RISKS ON ROAD

States with highest and lowest road death rates per 100,000 population in 2009:

Highest:

Lowest:

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

ShareYahoo! Buzz Add to Mixx Facebook TwitterMore Fark Digg Reddit MySpace StumbleUpon Propeller LinkedInSubscribe myYahoo iGoogleMore Netvibes myAOL By Larry Copeland, USA TODAY Your odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash vary dramatically because of one simple thing: where you live. The safest places to drive in the USA are Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts. Among the most dangerous: Montana, Wyoming, Louisiana and Mississippi. Those conclusions are based on federal data of traffic fatalities per 100,000 population and per 100 million miles driven.

The primary reason for the difference: Urban roads are safer than rural roads.

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Even in states with low overall road death rates, rural areas often have rates twice as high as urban ones. That's because urban areas usually have roads with lower speed limits, more safety engineering features such as divided highways and faster access to emergency medical care than rural routes. Many rural deaths occur when vehicles leave the road and crash into trees or other obstructions.

"An urban state in the Northeast is going to have a much lower fatality rate than a rural Western state with a lot of high-speed, two-lane rural roads, where serious crashes are more likely to happen," says Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Many traffic safety groups such as the Governors Highway Safety Association argue that such comparisons don't accurately reflect how safe a state's roads are. A better measure, they say, is whether states have enacted proven safety enhancements such as motorcycle helmet laws and primary seat belt laws, which allow police to stop motorists solely for being unbuckled.

State legislatures around the country are gearing up this month to debate scores of highway safety measures that address everything from texting while driving to booster-seat use.

The National Transportation Safety Board urges states to adopt five "most wanted" safety measures, covering extreme drunken driving, seat belt use, child-occupant protection, eliminating distractions for young drivers and motorcycle safety.

Judith Stone, president of Washington, D.C.-based Advocates for Auto and Highway Safety, says the group does not consider fatalities when issuing its annual report card on states. "We look at laws and whether they've been passed," Stone says.

Advocates of stronger laws say it's difficult to persuade a state such as New Hampshire, which has no seat belt or motorcycle helmet laws, to enact such rules when its death rate is below the U.S. average. "States like ... New Hampshire could certainly save more lives by passing stronger laws," says governors safety association spokesman Jonathan Adkins. "Legislators note these states have relatively low fatality rates and tend not to see the benefit in passing stronger laws."

Odds of dying in road wrecks, by state

Highway death rates vary dramatically state by state. 2009 deaths and rates per 100,000 population:

States

Deaths

Rate

Ala. 848 18.0

Alaska 64 9.2

Ariz. 807 12.2

Ark. 585 20.3

Calif. 3,081 8.3

Colo. 465 9.3

Conn. 223 6.3

Del. 116 13.1

D.C. 29 4.8

Fla. 2,558 13.8

Ga. 1,284 13.1

Hawaii 109 8.4

Idaho 226 14.6

Ill. 911 7.1

Ind. 693 10.8

Iowa 372 12.4

Kan. 386 13.7

Ky. 791 18.3

La. 821 18.3

Maine 159 12.1

Md. 547 9.6

Mass. 334 5.1

Mich. 871 8.7

Minn. 421 8.0

Miss. 700 23.7

Mo. 878 14.7

Mont. 221 22.7

Neb. 223 12.4

Nev. 243 9.2

N.H. 110 8.3

N.J. 583 6.7

N.M. 361 18.0

N.Y. 1,156 5.9

N.C. 1,314 14.0

N.D. 140 21.6

Ohio 1,021 8.9

Okla. 738 20.0

Ore. 377 9.9

Pa. 1,256 10.0

R.I. 83 7.9

S.C. 894 19.6

S.D. 131 16.1

Tenn. 989 15.7

Texas 3,071 12.4

Utah 244 8.8

Vt. 74 11.9

Va. 757 9.6

Wash. 492 7.4

W.Va. 356 19.6

Wis. 561 9.9

Wyo. 134 24.6

USA 33,808 11.0