Connecticut Home to Some of Nation's Deadliest Rural Roads: Study

Did you know Connecticut's country roads are among the most dangerous in the nation? The fatality rate on back roads in Connecticut is six times higher than those on all other roads in the state, according to a study released Tuesday by a group of insurance companies and road builders.

The new report pins the death rate on rural roads in Connecticut at 3.57 per 100 million miles traveled in 2013, the highest in the country. Rural roads in South Carolina, Florida, Montana and Arizona also rank high on the list.

Standing near Route 44, a highway disguised as a country road between Interstate 384 and the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut resident Bob Laughran said the numbers don't surprise him.

"It's heavily traveled; there's a lot of traffic. And people drive too fast," he explained.

Laughran said he could think of five fatalities at one intersection alone, where Route 44 meets North River Road.

The study also found 25 percent of the state's rural pavement is in poor condition. Connecticut ranks No. 11 on that list, topped by Michigan, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma, Maine, Alaska and New Mexico.

Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick said the roads, however, are not to blame for crashes that can prove fatal.

"Many of those roads are not state roads," Nursick said in a statement Tuesday. "As for the state roads, there is nothing wrong with them. There is something wrong with drivers and that is the crux of the issue, irresponsible and dangerous behavior, which is the cause of virtually all crashes in the state."

Nursick said the state "cannot design roadways to account for motorists who regularly fail to obey basic and fundamental rules of the road. Until we get cooperation from drivers, there will be no such thing as a safe roadway."

Read the full report here.

Contact Us