US state with the highest traffic fatalitiy rate : and the winner is... (Missoula: to live in, price)

[gildossantos]

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the state with the highest traffic fatality rate is... you got it Montana.

see the stats here :Montana

2006FatalitiesFatality Rate per 100M
VMTFatality Rate per 100K
PopulationMontana 2632.3327.84US 42,6421.4114.24Best State* 0.786.36

with 27.84 deaths per 100k population, the average rate is almost twice the national rate and 4 to 5 times the best state rate.

Even worse, if you consider the international comparison provided by this article

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/au...yt&oref=slogin



Considering Montana as a country, its road fatality rate would be the worst of 43 developped countries in the world and montanans would even beat Russia, one of the worst countries in the world to drive - and stay alive.

Montanans (genuine or newcomers), I'd like to have your opinion on this topic : do you feel safe while driving on Montana roads? For you, what might explain this amazing figures : road rage and agressive driving? speeding? DUI? poor enforcement? bad roads? other reasons?

Thanks for your contribution.

[gildossantos]

i made a mistake. Montana does not rank 1rst for highway fatality rate :

1-wyoming : 37.86
2-mississipi : 31.30
3-montana : 27.84

My appologies to the people of Montana. Yet, it's still a dark figure. So the questions I asked in my 1rst thread remain

[bigtrees]

Not suprising. Reasons are:

1) Small population - always throws statistics off.
2) Narrow roads with steep ditches. We have lots of 1 vehicle rollover accidents in Montana.
3) Freeways are the safest roads to drive because they separate the direction of traffic. We don't have many freeways in Montana that are driven by commuters hence get a lot of head on collisions (high fatality rate)
4) High speed travel. Our speed limits are fast compared to the rest of the country. We get everywhere quickly but when an accident happens it's a doozy.

[montanamom]

These isn't the traffic congestion out here that is common in other states, roads are usually wide open, and I think the temptation to speed gets the best of some people. There ARE a lot of single car fatal accidents out here, from roll overs, and people who don't slow down in icy and snowy conditions. Remember the stats are for FATAL accidents, not accidents in general. I lived in the Washington D. C. area and did that awful beltway commute for awhile. There were fender benders on a daily basis, but it's a little hard to be in a FATAL accident when you are sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a six lane highway and can't go more than two feet at a time at about 5 miles an hour.

[jimj]

You also have to throw the lower use of seatbelts here as well as the high amount of drunk/impaired drivers into the mix. We just had a fatality yesterday where someone on his way to work hit a horse that got loose and it killed both of them.

[eqw]

Factor in these outside issues too, not just the drivers...

How many ambulances and first responders are there per county in MT?

Where is the closest medical center?

How fast is an accident reported?

Can the suurrounding population support a hired 24 hour emergency crew?

Theres a price to pay in wanting to live in God's country ~ and anyone who moves here better understand the risk.

[JetMech72]

Originally Posted by eqw

Factor in these outside issues too, not just the drivers...

How many ambulances and first responders are there per county in MT?

Where is the closest medical center?

How fast is an accident reported?

Can the suurrounding population support a hired 24 hour emergency crew?

Theres a price to pay in wanting to live in God's country ~ and anyone who moves here better understand the risk.

Firstly, you can't throw these factors into the mix to garner support for the theory that our vast expanses caused these numbers to be inflated. 90% of the fatalities in this state are near metro areas. I've never even heard of any wrecks that were fatal because of the isolation of the wreck. I'm speaking from experiance, because of a long-time friend, who is based in Lewis and Clark County and responds to wrecks in every county bordering L&C and even Missoula County. I'd say that 99.9% of the time it is speed that causes the fatalities here. The other .1%? Cell phones, just look at the case in Kalispell where a lady was distracted by her cell phone and crossed the centerline killing a Highway Patrolman. The driving habits here aren't any different than you'd find in many other states. The only factor that is different are the many people that find the wide open road as a place to speed and that is the main cause of the high fatality rate.

Just a quick census: How many of you, that don't live in or near Montana, think that we still have no speed limit?
In all of my journeys around the U.S., many people ask me what it is like to live in a state with no speed limit. I tell them that was a short-lived period of time and there most definitely is, and really always has been a speed limit. Even "Safe and Prudent" had a limit.

I should also mention the DUI problem here, as well. We have a high number of DUI convictions in this state and if one were to look at our under-staffed law enforcement, it would be easy to say that a small percentage of the offenders are ever caught and convicted. So, with a high rate of convictions you can deduce that there are two or three times as many that don't get caught....making Drunk Driving a huge factor in the number of wrecks and fatalities in this state.....this is only an assumtion, I haven't looked for the stats on Drunk-driving related fatalities for the state, but that would be an interesting number to find.

[ExilefromCa]

I've never been particularly uneasy about driving in Montana. I think Igmagone is correct; the size of Montana's population may make the statistics look worst than they really are.

If you take it slow and play it safe, you'll be fine.

[fy10fyr]

Originally Posted by JetMech72

Firstly, you can't throw these factors into the mix to garner support for the theory that our vast expanses caused these numbers to be inflated. 90% of the fatalities in this state are near metro areas. I've never even heard of any wrecks that were fatal because of the isolation of the wreck.

There are plenty of wrecks, everywhere, that are fatal due to isolation/distance to definitive care. It's referred to as "The Golden Hour." A victim of severe, multi-system trauma, such as an MVA, that is not in an OR within 60 minutes of that trauma has greatly decreased chances of survival.

[gildossantos]

Originally Posted by JetMech72

I should also mention the DUI problem here, as well. We have a high number of DUI convictions in this state and if one were to look at our under-staffed law enforcement, it would be easy to say that a small percentage of the offenders are ever caught and convicted. So, with a high rate of convictions you can deduce that there are two or three times as many that don't get caught....making Drunk Driving a huge factor in the number of wrecks and fatalities in this state.....this is only an assumtion, I haven't looked for the stats on Drunk-driving related fatalities for the state, but that would be an interesting number to find.

you can go to the site I mention in my 1rst thread, you'll find accurate statistics about the causes of traffic fatalities, included DUI.