Rural roads: scenic, but dangerous

Rural roads can be pretty, but they can also be deadly. Larry Copeland writes for USA Today that based on federal data, urban roads are safer than rural roads. The safest places to drive in the U.S. are Washington, D.C., Massachusetts and New York. Among the most dangerous: Montana, Wyoming, Louisiana and Mississippi. "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."

Some traffic safety groups believe the data is not a good measure of road safety. A better measure, says the Governors Highway Safety Association, is how many laws are on the books that enhance safety. 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, writes Copeland. (Read more)