A study by ValuePenguin found that Oklahoma’s State Route 9 is the second most dangerous highway in America, with the majority of fatal crashes occurring in Cleveland County.
Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System between the years of 2010 and 2016 was analyzed by David Ascienzo, data scientist at ValuePenguin, in order to compile the ranking. Ascienzo found that State Route 9 is the second most dangerous highway overall, 42nd in DUI fatality ranking and 28th in EMS wait time ranking.
Though there were only 50 fatal crashes on the highway in the period analyzed, Ascienzo’s analyzation of the following three factors placed SR-9 in its high position on the list: fatal crashes per vehicle-miles-traveled per capita, fatalities per crash and the percentage of fatal non-vehicle collisions that occurred on each highway.
According to the website, fatal crashes per VMT per capita allowed researchers to factor in how many people are locally driving on that road and fatalities per crash allowed researchers to know the areas that the deadliest crashes occurred on average. The percentage of fatal non-vehicle collisions allowed researchers to see where a road may have safety risks not resulting from other drivers.
Ascienzo said that 82% of fatal crashes on SR-9 were non-vehicle collisions, which could be “a car crashing into a ditch or hitting a pothole or a guard rail.” According to the data, 28 percent of the total fatal crashes occurred in Cleveland County, with Pottawatomie County having 22 percent and Haskell County with 18 percent.
“There may be something inherently dangerous on that road,” Ascienzo said. “Perhaps there’s an intersection (in Cleveland County) or a region of the road that either still or at one point had a very dangerous reputation.”
The percent of fatal crashes on SR-9 involving a drunk driver between 2010 and 2016 was 18.2 percent, with the national average being 28.7 percent, according to the study. The average EMS wait time on SR-9 was 12 minutes, while the national average is 10.8 minutes, the study found.
Ascienzo said that the study came about because researchers wanted to identify the most problematic highways across the U.S.
“We’re just hoping that the results of our study will serve as a reminder that drivers have to remain diligent and proceed with extra caution when it comes to certain roads,” Ascienzo said.
