Ahead of heavier-than-usual traffic during the holiday season, Zonar Systems Inc. has identified the top 10 most dangerous roads in the U.S. for truckers. Colorado and Florida each have multiple entries.
According to a news release from Seattle-based fleet management technology company Zonar, there are about 36 percent more vehicles on the road during the holiday season. Combine that with inclement winter weather and reduced sunlight and you have a recipe for more dangerous conditions on the U.S. roadways.
Using data from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Zonar identified the following highways as the most dangerous for truckers:
• I-10 in Alabama
• I-95 in Florida
• Highway 75 in Idaho
• I-40 in Arkansas
• US-1 in Florida
• M-20 in Michigan
• I-80 in Colorado*
• Highway 5 in Colorado
• I-70 in Maryland
• SC-35 in South Carolina
*Reported accidents occurred on an off-ramp between Nebraska/Colorado state line.
The list was based on total accident volume from 2013 to 2016.
The 36 percent increase in traffic is comprised of private passenger cars (23 percent), delivery fleets (10 percent) and people-carrier traffic such as rented buses and shuttles (3 percent).
Zonar also discovered from DOT data that adverse weather was responsible for 14.7 percent of crashes, including rain (72.6 percent of weather-related crashes), fog (12.5 percent) and snow (10.12 percent).
According to AAA, nearly 51 million Americans are expected to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday, which is defined as Wednesday, Nov. 22, to Sunday, Nov. 26.
That’s a 3.3 percent increase from last year and the highest since 2005. Of those travellers, nearly 90 percent will be hitting the roads as their mode of travel, up 3.2 percent from 2016.
