Driving these days can be a terrifying experience. Especially in Charlotte, it seems the drivers get worse and more aggressive by the day and traffic laws are a mere suggestion. But it’s actually the rural roads that are of concern in North Carolina. New research by Florida Personal Injury Lawyers Anidjar & Levine looked at 10 years’ worth of data including the number of annual miles driven on rural roads and the number of rural road accidents for each state. They used this data to determine which states had the highest occurrence of rural crashes. And it’s North Carolina that has the most dangerous rural roads in America.
That’s right North Carolina ranked first on this list. And that’s not something to celebrate. The state has 70.45 accidents for every billion miles driven. Another interesting statistic is that 44.3% of these crashes occur on roads with a 55 mph speed limit. That’s 64.7% higher than the national average which is 26.9%. In some ways, this makes sense as there are a lot of rural roads in North Carolina. But when you consider the sheer size of other states it is a little crazy that we topped the list.
To create this list the researchers at Anidjar & Levine gathered data from 2012-2021 from agencies including NCDOT, FARS, the U.S. Census Bureau, and FHWA. The rural road accident rate was calculated by dividing the annual miles driven on rural roads by the number of vehicles involved in rural road accidents for each state. Keep reading below to see the top five states with the most dangerous roads in America. North Carolina isn’t the only Carolina in the top 5 either. Stay safe out there North Carolina. Thanks to our friends at Journo Research for sharing this research with us.
Top 5 Most Dangerous Rural Roads In America
5. Mississippi
Rural crashes per billion miles driven: 60.37
10 year change: 38.4%
4. South Carolina
Rural crashes per billion miles driven: 63.6
10 year change: -6.3%
3. West Virginia
Rural crashes per billion miles driven: 67.18
10 year change: -33.6%
2. Connecticut
Rural crashes per billion miles driven: 68.74
10 year change: -39.0%
1. North Carolina
Rural crashes per billion miles driven: 70.45
10 year change: -11.2%
