RI Has One of the Deadliest Highways
Monday, June 07, 2010
The stretch of Interstate 95 running through Rhode Island has been named one of the deadliest highways in America by a national survey—news that does not bode well for the summer driving season.
I-95 was ranked as 31 in a list of the one hundred worst ones in a report by the Daily Beast Web site, which utilized data from the National Highway Safety Administration.
Between 2004 and 2008, there were 36 fatal accidents on the highway, at a rate of nearly one accident for every mile.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe top five deadliest highways were: I-95 in Florida, I-76 in New Jersey, I-4 in Florida, I-15 in California, and I-10 in California.
Most of the accidents on these highways happened during the three summer months.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans will drive one trillion miles, in what one safety advocate has dubbed the “100 deadliest days” of the year.
News that Rhode Island has one of the deadliest highways wasn’t too surprising to a local advocate for motorists rights. “When you put a highway through a major urban area, you should expect there is going to be a certain amount of issues,” said Tom Frank, the state coordinator for the National Motorists Association.
The sharp S-curses through Pawtucket are especially dangerous, as is the section of I-95 on the south end of Providence, Frank said. Another bad area was interchange between I-95 and I-195, where westbound drivers on I-195 were merging to go north on I-95, Frank said.
But the state Department of Transportation is in the process of rebuilding the interchange. Frank said he thinks the changes will make it safer—although he said there is still room for improvement. “They have improved certain things, but they haven’t completely solved the problem.
The highway ranking comes on the heels of another study, released last month, that says Rhode Island drivers are the fourth worst in the nation. The survey of drivers, conducted by GMAC Insurance found that one in five licensed drivers would not be able to pass a drivers test. Most drivers don’t know what to do when they’re heading toward a steady yellow light and many don’t know how closely they can follow cars ahead of them.
Besides wearing your seatbelt, Frank said drivers can vastly improve safety on highways by following one simple rule: drive on the right, and use the left lanes for passing. “If everyone in America followed lane discipline, we’d have fewer accidents. We’d have fewer traffic jams and things would be much better,” Frank said.
Government also has more to do he said. He said making highways more efficient—straighter and wider—is the key. “If you can maximize the efficiency you can maximize the safety and everybody wins,” Frank said.
The summer driving season has already seen at least one fatality on I-95. Friday evening, an 87-year-old driver was killed when his car crashed near Exit 5 in Exeter. State police are still investigating the accident.
