Study: The Deadliest Roads in the United States

The two deadliest highways in the United States are interstates 95 and 45 in Florida and Texas respectively.

Driving on busy roads poses a certain level of danger, especially for young and inexperienced drivers. To help drivers understand just how dangerous driving can be, we’ve put together a study that shows the deadliest roads in the United States for car accidents. Our hope is that this information will help drivers recognize dangerous roads and be safer while driving, in an effort to reduce fatal crash statistics in America. 

Background

Before we start talking about specific roads, here is a little background on the study that was conducted. This study was conducted by Elk & Elk Co., Ltd and uses traffic and collision data from the past 20 years (2000-2019) to determine the deadliest roads, highways and interstates in America. 

The study looks at not just crash volume, but year over year consistency to determine which roads have not just the most crashes over the 20 year period, but the highest number of recurring crashes each year. The study looked at the entire roadway map of the contiguous United States to collect data from every state. 

For the purposes of the study, the data looked at 10 mile segments of roadways and found that all the roads with the highest numbers of fatal accidents were major highways and thorough fairs that traveled between states. In other words, the deadliest roads are all sections of major interstates and highways. 

The Deadliest Road in the United States 

When examining the total number of crashes over the twenty year period, we found one stretch of highway that topped them all.. 

A stretch of Highway 45 outside of Houston Texas between exit 49B and 60A had 142 crashes with 148 deaths. That equates to roughly 7 deaths per year for that one stretch of highway. In fact, 9 out of the top 10 deadliest roads in the United States had over 100 crashes and fatalities each over the period of the study. This means well over 1,000 deaths on just 9 roads in the United States. 

Overall Findings

The study found more than just the highest number of deadly crashes on roads in the United States, we were also able to discover some important trends. 

The two deadliest highways in the United States are interstates 95 and 45 in Florida and Texas respectively. Each of these highways had multiple sections that ranked in the top 10 for deadly crashes and each had over 250 casualties over the period of the study. 

Interstate 95 alone appears 5 times in the list for all 48 states, beginning in Miami, FL and ending in Kennebunk, ME making it likely the deadliest interstate in the United States.

The study also found that the majority of crashes were located along sections of highways situated just outside of highly populated metropolitan areas. Population density and traffic volume have a major impact on the number of deadly crashes. If we consider the fact that more cars on the road means a higher chance of an accident, then the data would seem to coincide with that fact. 

However, when we looked a little more closely at the facts, we found that a large number of the deadliest roads in the United States, in fact 7 out of the top 10 were located between Houston and Dallas Texas. The other 3 were found to be in Florida. Unfortunately, we don’t know enough about the correlation between Southern states and deadly crashes to determine what plays a role in the higher numbers. 

For more details about the deadliest roads in the United States and to learn more about how to avoid an accident while traveling, you can find the full study here.