Road trip! Summertime is the time for driving with the top down. With less to pack you can hop in the car and take a weekend road trip or an all-day driving tour.
Summertime is also the deadliest time of the year on the nation's highways.
A new study using figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has revealed 100 of the deadliest highways in America, putting Interstate-95 in Florida at the top.
According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures, there were 662 fatal accidents on I-95 in Florida from 2004 to 2008. That means there were 1.73 fatal crashes per mile.
Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Alex Annunziato blames driver distraction for many of the accidents. "I think it's the volume coupled with the level of distraction that's present in the driving environment these days," he said. "That really is a recipe for what we've been seeing here."
The NHTSA agrees. According to their figures nearly 6,000 people died in crashes that involved distracted driving in 2008.
Here are 10 of the top 100 deadliest highways in America. If you can bypass these highways, you might just breathe a little easier on your road trips this summer:
1. I-95, Florida
2. I-76, New Jersey
3. I-4, Florida
4. I-15, California
5. I-10, California
6. I-59, Louisiana
7. I-94, Illinois
8. I-93, Massachusetts
9. I-95, Delaware
10. I-55, Tennessee
SOURCE: The Daily Beast with data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
