Car Accidents on Rural Roads

Ed Van Dorn

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I just saw an article on line about car accidents on rural highways. Not suprisingly the article sites studies that show that driving on rural highways can be more dangerous than driving on urban roads.

University of Minnesota research by the Center of Excellence on Rural Safety found rural roads deadlier when it comes to car crashes than urban roads in 2005. The study states 72 percent of traffic fatalities happen on rural roads in Minnesota.

In this case, rural roads are those outside cities with a population of 5,000 or more.

For those of us used to driving in rural Vermont this comes as no suprise. We have represented some folks very seriously injured by motorists driving carelessly on rural roads. To some drivers the more isolated the area the faster they think they can go. I would argue that the opposite is true. On out of the way roads sometimes the highway design can be tricky with narrow lanes and shoulders. Wildlife especially deer and moose come suddenly on the road. Hidden drives are often unmarked. There are a host of reasons why we should drive even more cautiously than usual on rural roads. My firm represents seriously injured victims of careless rural drivers all the time. We see the harm they can cause first hand. Please drive cautiously on rural highways. If you don't and you hurt someone in an accident you may be hearing from us.

For more information on this subject, please refer to our section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.