The DOT’s 10 Most Dangerous Highways For Truckers

You would think with the holidays over and the road volume finally back to normal that the roads would be safer and smoother. Not quite. Freezing temperatures, sleet, snow, ice, heavy fogs, and decreased daylight make driving even more challenging and dangerous. And, with the New Year, comes new resolutions for fleet owners and operators to out health and safety first.

Knowing which highways are the most dangerous for trucks could help you plan for a safe trip home in these cold, dark months ahead. According to the Department of Transportation, the top ten most dangerous highways and roads for truck drivers based on total accident volume between 2013 -2016 are:

I-10 in Alabama
I-95 in Florida
HWY-75 in Idaho
I-40 in Arkansas
US-1 in Florida
M-20 in Michigan
I-80 Nebraska
HWY-5 in Colorado
I-70 in Maryland
SC-35 South Carolina

The Department of Transportation’s data also showed some other interesting findings about truck crashes:

• More than 50 percent of trucks in highway accidents had at least one vehicle defect
• 30% of these crashes were caused by equipment failure including brakes, tires, lights, transmission failure, or vehicle overload.
• Bad weather caused 14.7 percent of accidents. Of this total, rain accounted for almost 73 percent of weather-related accidents, fog was the culprit for almost 13 percent of accidents, and snow caused more than 10 percent of those accidents.

  By knowing which stretches of highway are the most dangerous for truck drivers, fleet managers and owner-operators can potentially lower their chances of getting into an accident — while also helping to keep other drivers safe — by adjusting routes or schedules, varying driving times and loads, or increasing inspections and checkpoints. What are you going to do to ensure your drivers are safe on the road?

For more information about trucking safety be sure to check out this blog post: The Debate: Side Guard Rails on Trucks