Florida’s road safety record is giving cause for concern. The stretch of US Highway 1 running through Florida has been identified as having the worst road crash record of any highway in the US. Analysis shows that there have been 1,079 fatal crashes in the last 10 years on the road, which runs for 872km through 13 counties in Florida. Other highways in the US known to have poor records for road safety include US 83 in Texas, US 140 in California, Interstate 40 in Arizona, and US 18 in South Dakota. For US 140 in California, there is at least the excuse that it runs into the Yosemite nature reserve where the road becomes narrow and winds round many sharp bends, while weather conditions can also be severe. However no such excuse exists for US 1 in Florida.
On a wider basis, Florida also scores poorly in the US for road safety and the state saw a worrying 395,396 traffic incidents in all. Of these, 42% (165,947) resulted in injuries and 2,907 involved fatalities, resulting in 3,154 deaths. Alcohol use is a known factor in many road crashes in Florida, while the rate of crashes amongst motorcyclists in the state is also of serious concern.
