Killing Zones in Arizona
Can you guess where the killing zones in Arizona highways are found? Would you be surprised to learn that one of the top five most dangerous roadways is right here in the great state of Arizona? Well, it turns out, we are on the dubious list, laying claim to the fourth most dangerous road, interstate 17. In particular, that part of the road that passes through Phoenix is measured to be the most treacherous portion of the road, this according to Teletrac Navman who recently published a report on the subject.
Specifically, in the period between 2011 and 2015 on the stretch of interstate 17 that connects Phoenix to Flagstaff the perilous highway accounted for 123 deaths due to traffic accidents. Put in other terms, this equates to more than one death per mile of road! Furthermore, there were nearly 50 fatal accidents within the city limits of Phoenix on interstate 17. These figures are based on data collected by the Nation Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s system that collects and reports accident fatalities.
In a report provided by Jessica Boehm of The Republic, in the three year period beginning in 2013, the section of interstate 17 from Greenway Road to Bell Road had five fatal accidents in that very short one mile section of pavement and from Loop 303 to Happy Valley Road accounted for eight such accidents over just a four mile section of the interstate making these two of the deadliest parts of the roadway. In this same time period, there was an accident resulting in a death at a rate of one per week resulting in a total of 207 fatalities.
Fatal accidents on our highway system in Arizona has an alarming rate compared to the average across the nation with an occurrence rate of 61 percent above the average in the USA. This is based on the same source, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and data from the Federal Highway Administration’s 2013 data.
Narrowing these statistics down to the single worst time to be driving on interstate 17, would be between the hours of 3 o’clock in the afternoon until 4 o’clock in the afternoon on March 3! More generally, Saturday is the worst day of the week generally to be on interstate 17 based on the average number of accidents over the period on one year. The highway has seen in order, vehicle to vehicle collisions as the most common form of accident followed by vehicles rolling over and then vehicle to pedestrians rounding out the top three forms of accidents on the roadway.
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