🚀 go-pugleaf

I just hate it when I hear people say how dangerous interstates are
(and thus resist higher speed limits). Not too long ago I read in Time
Magazine an article that gave the statistics. Interstates take 9% of
lives per miles driven versus secondary roads that take 89%. So which
is safer? It just like the misconception about air travel, that its
safer than driving yourself.

The misconception about interstates is so bad, I know people who
actually take secondary roads for long distance travel of hundreds of
miles and more.

But why are secondary roads so dangerous? One cause is driving on a 50
mph road with head-on traffic just a few feet away. Put another way, a
collision is easily under 1 second from happening. Not enough time to
react. The combined speed: 100 mph. But on an interstate where there
is a center barrier or wide grassy strip, such accidents are very
rare. Which makes me wonder why some people think its not safe to
drive 100 mph on the interstate. After all, they somehow feel 50 mph
is safe on secondary roads, but somehow lack the reasoning that 50 +
50 = 100.

On an interstate, to do what can be done on a secondary road at 50
mph, you have to drive at 100 mph on an interstate and run into a car
parked on the shoulder. But there are so few of these as to be
insignificant. Now I will accept the concept that some parts of
interstates have sharp hills or sharp curves and safe speeds need to
be lower, but on the straight-aways, 100 or more is no big deal.

Interestingly, they drive 100+ mph (160+ kph) in Germany all the time
and their death-rate per miles driven adjusted for all factors except
speed itself, is a fraction of percent lower.

Another reason for more death on secondary roads, is at-grade
crossings. This is something interstates lack. People who pull out
from a secondary road onto a 50 mph highway and get hit in the side
stand a good chance of dying, and often do. Interstate have merge
ramps, not at-grade crossings.

There are many more reasons, but one final one is that secondary roads
tend to have far more blinds spots (curves, bushes  & trees, houses
and buildings too close to the road, parked vehicles at intersections,
etc.) Interstates (most of them) are designed to have a clearer field
of view.

If I had to choose between having to drive at say 120 mph on an open
interstate, and driving 50 mph on any secondary road, guess which one
I would pick.