Rural roads account for most U.S. traffic deaths

The National Highway Safety and Traffic Administration has released its latest data on traffic fatalities, and the verdict remains the same: More Americans die on rural roads. About 20 percent of the U.S. population lives in rural areas, but 56 percent of the 37,261 U.S. traffic deaths occurred on rural roads in 2008, Larry Copeland of USA Today reports. Overall U.S. traffic deaths, likely influenced by record gas prices and the recession, dropped in 2008, but rural traffic deaths improved less.

Every state reported more rural deaths per 100 million miles traveled than urban fatalities, Copeland reports. Lee Munich, director of the Center for Excellence in Rural Safety at the University of Minnesota, tells Copeland faster speeds, more drunken driving, less use of seat belts and slower delivery of acute medical care can all factor in the increased rural fatality rates.

USA Today has also included an interactive map, above (see article for Flash graphic), that shows the rural percentage of traffic fatalities in each state. Our home state, Kentucky, saw 77 percent of traffic fatalities occur on rural roads. South Carolina led the country at 95 percent and Massachusetts had the lowest rate at 10 percent. (Read more)

You can also see the University of Minnesota's map of the top 100 rural traffic fatality hot zones.