Why Are Florida Roads So Dangerous?
Florida’s highways are downright infamous for the number of accidents and fatalities they see every single year. Interstate 4, the highway that connects Tampa with Orlando and Daytona Beach, recently earned the dubious distinction of being the deadliest stretch of highway in America. This is according to Teletrac Navman, which pointed out that more people have died on I-4 in a five-year stretch than the highway has miles. US-192, another Floridian east-west highway, came in at third and I-95 was fifth, although that highway stretches along the entire East Coast.
That’s not all, either. Another report put together by the company Geotab names a different Florida road as the deadliest in the nation: US-1. Route 1 is another highway that follows the East Coast, but Geotab’s report specifically points to the stretch in Florida. Another contender is I-10 along the panhandle.
So what’s going on? What is responsible for all the vehicle accidents, injuries, and fatalities on Florida’s streets? As you probably expected, there are several reasons behind these statistics.
Population Density
Florida has the third highest population of any U.S. state, with only Texas and California above it in the rankings. But when it comes to size, Florida is only the 26th largest state by population. Many northeastern states have a higher population density, but they don’t have Florida’s tourism industry.
Several northeast cities bring in a lot of tourists every year, including New York City and Washington, D.C., but Florida’s warm beaches, subtropical climate, and world-class amusement parks bring over 100 million tourists to the state every year. And since those visitors aren’t all concentrated in a single city, they get in their rental cars and add to the traffic on Florida’s highways. It’s no accident that more of Florida’s traffic fatalities occur during tourist season.
Limited Driving Routes
Not only is Florida a smaller state, it’s also a state with a limited number of directions you can drive. Between the panhandle and peninsula, Florida is a very narrow state, and so while a state like Texas can lay its highways in any direction they want, there are only two major routes to the south end of the state: I-75 and I-95. The fact that the deadly I-4 lets you cut between them and reach Orlando along the way is probably not a coincidence.
Old Infrastructure
Another reason why Florida highways are dangerous could be completely unavoidable. Some stretches of I-10 still have no real barriers or dividers between the two directions, allowing deadly crossover accidents to occur. Also, Central Florida recently gained the title “most dangerous region for pedestrians” thanks to the shortage of lighting, medians, and crosswalks on city streets that need them.
Between its high population, limited routes, and limited infrastructure, it’s no wonder that Florida has a problem with traffic accidents and fatalities. It’s also why the law offices of , Goldman, Babboni, Fernandez, and Walsh offer our services to those who end up in a traffic accident in Tampa and southwest Florida. We have years of experience negotiating with insurance companies to get our clients the best settlements possible, and you can contact us anytime to get a free case review.
