The Pew Charitable Trusts

The most dangerous roads in the United States aren't the perilous freeways of Los Angeles depicted in television shows and video games, or Washington, D.C.'s Beltway jammed bumper-to-bumper during rush hour. Instead, it is the rural two-lane road where a disproportionate number of drivers are killed, especially in Southeastern states.

More than half of all U.S. traffic fatalities occurred on rural two-lane roads that carried just 28 percent of the nation's traffic from 1999 to 2003, according to an analysis of the most recent federal crash data by The Road Information Program (TRIP), a nonprofit group that researches traffic issues.

Regionally, eight Southeastern states accounted for more than 30 percent of all road deaths from 1996 to 2000, and 64 percent of those fatal accidents happened on rural roads, according to researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Those states -- Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee -- account for just 19 percent of the nation's population.

"It is critical that we improve safety on the nation's rural roads, which are exposing rural residents and visitors to an unacceptable level of risk," said William M. Wilkins, TRIP's executive director. "We know how to make rural roads safer. What is missing is adequate funding for road safety projects that will save numerous lives."

While the number of people living in rural areas has increased 11 percent since 1990, state and local governments have not been able to afford improvements to country roads, the March 3 TRIP report stated. And many rural roads are not eligible for federal highway funds, according to TRIP.

Both studies blame the high number of deaths on poorly designed country byways with rolling hills, sharp curves and steep drop-offs from pavement to the shoulder, which can cause drivers to lose control. And because the roads are in isolated areas, it is often difficult for emergency workers to get injured drivers and passengers to the hospital in time to save their lives, according to the TRIP report. The organization recommends widening roadways, paving shoulders, adding rumble strips to the center and edges of roads, and lighting hazardous areas.

The study of Southeastern states, released in December 2004, also found that tired or drunken drivers often were killed at night after hitting trees on rural roadsides and that 49 percent of those killed were not wearing seatbelts.

State officials in Georgia, which had the seventh highest total of rural road fatalities between 1999 and 2003, were not surprised by the numbers and already are planning many of the suggested upgrades to country roads, said Bob Dallas, director of the Governor's Office of Highway Safety .

Even more difficult than making road improvements is changing drivers' behaviors and safety laws. Legislators in both South Carolina and Georgia are having a hard time tightening their state's seat-belt laws, which critics say are too lax. New Hampshire is the only state that does not require adults to wear seat belts.

In Georgia, which requires front-seat passengers to buckle up, researchers found that a disproportionate number of fatal accidents involved pickup trucks, which are exempted from the seat-belt law. Minnesota is the only other state in the nation that does not require seat-belt use in pickups.

"I hope somebody takes a look at that and realizes it's time to fix that," said civil engineer Karen Dixon, who co-authored the study of Southeastern road fatalities.

But bills to include pickups in Georgia's seat-belt law are stuck in committee and strongly opposed by rural legislators, Dallas said.

In South Carolina, which had the third-highest rate of rural traffic fatalities in the nation in 2003, police cannot stop or ticket a driver solely for not wearing a seat belt. Like the law in 28 other states, an officer must stop the driver for another traffic violation. And the fine for not wearing a seat belt in South Carolina is just $10 -- tied with eight other states as the lowest in the nation.

A bill by House Speaker David H. Wilkins (R) would allow South Carolina drivers to be stopped just for not wearing their seat belts and would raise the fine to $25; such legislation has passed the House for the past two years and died each time in the Senate.

This year, though, the bill is opposed by Wilkins' colleague, House Majority Leader Jim Merrill (R), and was sent back to a House committee.

"There's a little more organized opposition this year," Wilkins told Stateline.org. "Those that oppose it don't want anyone infringing on their rights," he said. "All the stats I've read make me believe (wearing seat belts) saves lives," Wilkins added.

The 10 states with the most fatalities in accidents on non-Interstate, rural roads, from 1999 to 2003.

Southeastern states are in bold . Source: The Roadway Information Program analysis of Federal Highway Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

The 10 states with the highest rate of traffic fatalities on rural, non-Interstate routes per 100 million vehicle miles of travel in 2003, and fatality rate per 100 million vehicle miles on all other roads in the state in 2003. 

Southeastern states are in bold . Source: The Roadway Information Program analysis of Federal Highway Administration and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.