Geotab's most dangerous highways in US list

[txstateends]

https://www.geotab.com/the-most-dangerous-highways-in-america/

(the website explains how they measured their findings; I didn't feel like cutting/pasting)

AL: I-65
AK: AK 3
AZ: I-40
AR: US 65
CA: I-40
CO: US 160
CT: I-95
DE: US 13
FL: US 1  (worst on list, 1011 crashes, 1079 deaths)
GA: GA 11
HI: HI 11
ID: US 95
IL: US 45
IN: US 41
IA: I-80
KS: I-70
KY: US 62
LA: US 90
ME: US 1
MA: I-495
MD: US 1
MI: US 31
MN: US 169
MS: US 61
MO: US 63
MT: US 2
NE: I-80
NV: I-80
NH: I-93
NJ: US 130
NM: I-40
NY: I-87
NC: I-95
ND: US 2
OH: I-71
OK: US 69
OR: US 101
PA: I-80
RI: I-95  (lowest on list, 39 crashes, 40 deaths)
SC: I-95
SD: US 18
TN: I-40
TX: US 83
UT: US 89
VT: US 7
VA: US 460
WA: I-5
WV: US 19
WI: I-94
WY: I-80

[Brian556]

Cant help notice how many of these are interstates. They were supposed to be so much safer than conventional highways. FAIL

[jeffandnicole]

Cant help notice how many of these are interstates. They were supposed to be so much safer than conventional highways. FAIL

I think the data is messed up.

Using Delaware as an example, the data here says there was 112 fatalities on US 13. Yet, in 2016, Delaware recorded 120 fatalities in the ENTIRE STATE! Obviously 94% of all fatalities didn't occur on a single roadway.

[wxfree]

Cant help notice how many of these are interstates. They were supposed to be so much safer than conventional highways. FAIL

I would think that's to be expected.  Ideally we wouldn't compare different classes of highways, but the actual conditions with the conditions that would exist without the Interstate system.  Of course, we can't do that.

Since the Interstates have more traffic, more accidents should be expected.  Even though the rate includes consideration of traffic counts, it makes sense to me that the rate would still be higher with denser traffic, because there's more stuff to hit, and less tolerance for mistakes.  With the Interstates being designed for higher speeds, that makes mistakes more problematic than they'd be at lower speeds, and makes collisions more likely to be severe.  With there being more traffic generally, it becomes more likely that more vehicles will be involved.

If we could compare these conditions with what would happen without the Interstate system, with traffic more spread out on smaller roads instead of funneled onto a few superhighways, that, to me, would be a more interesting and revealing comparison.  I suspect that the number of collisions would be higher, but distributed onto more roads.

[SectorZ]

I-95 in Rhode Island mapping fail (along with many others - that seemed to be the worst).

If they can't make a map correctly and can't explain their stats very succinctly, I'm struggling to give any of their analysis the benefit of the doubt.

[hotdogPi]

Cant help notice how many of these are interstates. They were supposed to be so much safer than conventional highways. FAIL

I think the data is messed up.

Using Delaware as an example, the data here says there was 112 fatalities on US 13. Yet, in 2016, Delaware recorded 120 fatalities in the ENTIRE STATE! Obviously 94% of all fatalities didn't occur on a single roadway.

112 in the last 10 years, not per year.

[jeffandnicole]

Even better, click on Delaware on the link provided. 106 people died in their section of "the I-80"! Improper terminology for a highway that doesn't exist in the state.

I viewed NJ as well. The stat says 111 crashes and 112 fatalities for US 130. Click on the state, and it informs you "The US-130"...had 11 fatal accidents over the past 10 years.  If true, that would mean an average of 10 people were killed in each crash!  It goes on to say that the road is one of the most dangerous for pedestrians on NJ, NY and CT!!! Quite the accomplishment!

[Max Rockatansky]

How is I-40 in the desert in California the least safe, especially compared to I-10.

[Eth]

Trivia: excluding AK/HI, Georgia is the only state for which the "winner" was a state route and not a US/Interstate. (Though if I had to guess, I'd imagine a large portion of those accidents occurred north of Jefferson on the part of GA 11 that's also US 129, simply based on terrain.)

[oscar]

Even better, click on Delaware on the link provided. 106 people died in their section of "the I-80"! Improper terminology for a highway that doesn't exist in the state.

Many highways in other states are called "the [route number]". The report was obviously done by someone from the Los Angeles area.

[SteveG1988]

US 130 in New Jersey is pretty bad. I bet you most of it is on the section north of the 295 merger near deptford, and where it meets US 206 in Bordentown. Particularly the section between NJ90 and US30 near Pennsauken. Narrow lanes.

[Jmiles32]

I'm surprised its US-460 for Virginia, both I-81 and I-95 seem way worse.

[vdeane]

I definitely believe NY's entry.  During tourist season it seems like my commute is snarled by an accident at least once every single week.

[jp the roadgeek]

Even better, click on Delaware on the link provided. 106 people died in their section of "the I-80"! Improper terminology for a highway that doesn't exist in the state.

Many highways in other states are called "the [route number]". The report was obviously done by someone from the Los Angeles area.

Or Western New York

Whoever drew US 7 in Vermont was drunk.  It looks like it bends east of Okemo then back west toward Burlington.

[kkt]

They claim to divide by AADT.  I'm not sure how they calculated the average AADT for the entire highway in the state.  To do it right would be way too much work for a lame clickbait article.

[Hurricane Rex]

The interstates have a disadvantage because more people drive on them. An accurate way to measure it is to use it buy millions of miles driven per accident.

[tdindy88]

I find Indiana's entry being US 41 very suspect. Maybe it's really a dangerous highway but I think it only makes the top of the list due to being almost the longest highway in the state (US 231 and future I-69 will be longer.) A lot of these entries seem to be the longest in their states as well. I-65 and I-70 at least should be considered more dangerous.

[Brandon]

US-45 makes no sense for Illinois.  Granted, it's one of the longest highways in the state, but far from the most traveled.

[US 89]

It seems like this is a list of the longest well-traveled route in each state. For example, the list says Utah's worst highway is US 89, which is just the longest route in the state. (And I have seen real UDOT stats for this, and they all said I-15 was the most dangerous highway in Utah.)

And Idaho's is US 95...which just spends a lot of time in Idaho, it goes all the way up the panhandle.

[hotdogPi]

It seems like this is a list of the longest well-traveled route in each state. For example, the list says Utah's worst highway is US 89, which is just the longest route in the state. (And I have seen real UDOT stats for this, and they all said I-15 was the most dangerous highway in Utah.)

And Idaho's is US 95...which just spends a lot of time in Idaho, it goes all the way up the panhandle.

They divide by AADT, not by total vehicles traveled along the entire length. This biases it toward the longer routes.

[kkt]

The interstates have a disadvantage because more people drive on them. An accurate way to measure it is to use it buy millions of miles driven per accident.

If I'm understanding your second sentence, they said they did divide by AADT.  But AADT is measured in short segments, not over the entire road.  To do it right, they'd have to measure AADT and accidents in short segments.  But that would get to be too much like work.

[NE2]

Because US 83 in south Texas and US 83 in the Panhandle have anything to do with each other. It's like compiling a list of richest people by adding all the incomes in a neighborhood.

[paulthemapguy]

It seems like this is a list of the longest well-traveled route in each state. For example, the list says Utah's worst highway is US 89, which is just the longest route in the state. (And I have seen real UDOT stats for this, and they all said I-15 was the most dangerous highway in Utah.)

And Idaho's is US 95...which just spends a lot of time in Idaho, it goes all the way up the panhandle.

Seconded.  More crashes will occur on highways with more drivers in general.  So I guess the length and usage of a highway are the highest overall factors contributing to the number of crashes.  Makes sense.  But calling any of these the "most dangerous" highway is completely dubious.

[Bickendan]

US 101 in Oregon... just... no.

[sparker]

If the purpose of the exercise is to determine the 50 most dangerous highways in the U.S., then first determining the most dangerous route in each individual state should not even be a part of the methodology.  The title of the "study" should read "The 50 states ranked in order of their single most dangerous road".  If I-40 indeed is the most dangerous road within the first 3 states at its western end, it should follow that the extension into the Texas Panhandle is likely equally deadly -- but TX' "entry" is US 83, the single longest numbered route (890 miles) in the state -- and for the most part, a 2-lane rural facility (with the notable exception of the I-2/69E multiplex).  A "mixed" facility of this type, unless controlled for type of road (and not just overall AADT) will only yield mean data when parsed by route number only. 

The initial division among the states, the categorization simply by route number regardless of type of road (the GA 11 inclusion, considering that road's "zigzag" multiplexes with a myriad of other routes illustrates the methodological flaws intrinsic to this exercise), and the discontinuity regarding roads crossing state lines -- in sum -- indicate that this "study" is next to worthless -- and at best pointless and at worst misleading.  If the authors were going to go to that much trouble to assemble the data that they did, they could have, with even an undergraduate course in statistics behind them, come up with a much more meaningful conclusion than a dubious "Top 50" list.

And no, I'm not just pissed that my avatar was one of the selected routes!