Southern California Highways Rank Among the Deadliest Nationwide

Two highways in Southern California are among the 10 deadliest in the U.S., according to calculations based on 2013 data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and presented on Vox.com.

The Interstate 710 freeway (known as the Long Beach freeway) ranks No. 2 in the country with an average three accidents every 10 miles, coming in just behind Interstate 285 in Georgia, with 3.5 accidents per 10 miles.

As a state, according to Vox’s accumulated data, California reported 3,000 accidents in 2013, the second worst state nationwide for fatal accidents. Interstate 710 had seven accidents and eight fatalities.

Calfornia’s Interstate 215 ranked as the 10th deadliest highway in the nation with 2.1 accidents per 10 miles. In 2013, the highway claimed14 fatalities and had 14 accidents.

The compiled data came from 315 interstates that were examined nationwide. California’s interstate highways, compared to other states, had the largest number of fatal accidents at 20, 12 of those ranking in the top 50 deadliest interstates nationwide.

California’s Interstate 5, which spans more than 1,000 miles, had the most fatal accidents of any road in the state with 72 reported accidents. The likelihood of fatalities on I-5 was lower overall, however, due to its length.

Since 1975 (the first year that NHTSA collected Fatality Analysis Reporting System data), the traffic fatality rate per 100 million Vehicle Miles of Travel has decreased 67 percent, from 3.35 percent to 1.09 percent, according to the NHTSA.

In 2013, however, California’s fatalities increased one percent from 2012 while traffic fatalities decreased by three percent for the nation during the same time period.