Why Rural Car Accidents Often Lead to Worse Outcomes

By Your Health Magazine

Your Health Magazine

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Why Rural Car Accidents Often Lead to Worse Outcomes

One out of every five people in the United States lives in a rural area. Drivers in these places account for 31 percent of the vehicle miles driven nationally.

A survey by Nationwide Insurance revealed that three percent of respondents considered rural areas more dangerous for driving than urban settings. Yet, motor vehicle crashes in rural places killed 83,000 people between 2017 and 2021. That represents 43 percent of fatalities from crashes.

Rural settings can lull motorists and others into a false sense of freedom to disregard traffic laws and other safe driving standards. Even in more sparsely populated areas, motor vehicle crashes can happen. If you or someone you love is involved in a rural crash, the consequences can prove more severe than for victims in urban areas.

Risky Drivers and Passengers

Rural roads tend to breed riskier driving, especially when it comes to speed. Motorists in these areas drive faster because of factors such as:

• ·     Less traffic density
• ·     Fewer vehicles to follow
• ·     Smaller number of stop signs and lights
• ·     Open, flat, or straight nature of many rural roads
• ·     Lighter presence of law enforcement to discourage speeding

Higher speeds cause greater force at impact. This helps explain why the risk of a fatal crash doubles with a ten-mile-per-hour increase in speed. A driver who goes from 55 mph to 75 mph becomes four times more likely to kill someone in a crash. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, in 2023:

·     Nearly 72 percent of fatal car crashes in rural areas occurred where the speed limit was 55 mph or higher

·     On roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less, speeding was a factor in roughly four out of every 10 fatal wrecks

In addition to higher incidents of speeding, rural drivers and passengers use seat belts less frequently than those in urban areas. This makes fatalities in rural areas more likely than on urban roads. The U.S. Department of Transportation says that 51 percent of those killed in rural crashes did not wear a seat belt, while the rate was 48 percent of fatalities in urban accidents.

The Road Conditions

Flat and open roads encourage motorists to speed.

Many other features of rural roads can trigger serious injuries and death for victims of rural crashes. In these areas, motorists typically encounter two-lane roads. Improper passing, such as in no-passing lanes or with oncoming traffic, causes serious head-on collisions. Forty-one percent of Nationwide’s survey respondents considered passing on two-lane roads as the most dangerous risk on rural roads. The National Safety Council reports that, in 2023, head-on collisions accounted for 5,800 fatalities, nearly 30 percent of the 44,762 total deaths from motor vehicle collisions.

Victims who survive head-on collisions suffer concussions from striking the dashboard, steering wheel, or windshield and lacerations to the face and head from shattered windshields. Broken ribs and other chest injuries result from being pinned in a head-on collision or airbag deployment.

Beyond their two-lane nature, many rural roads are curvy, hilly, and lack shoulders, guard rails, or other protections. The lack of visibility from particularly winding roads and those with high and low points increase the prospect of head-on collisions or swerving to avoid these collisions. The evasive maneuvers themselves cause accidents, including many single-car accidents for which injured passengers may seek the services of an experienced car accident lawyer.

Motorists who lose control of their vehicles due to impaired driving, speeding, or distractions such as smartphones run off the road or overcompensate with sudden turns. The consequences include:

• ·     Striking trees, power lines, or other objects off the road
• ·     Vehicle rolling over
• ·     Landing into streams, ditches, or the bottom of hillsides

In particular, rollover accidents cause driver and passenger injuries to the junction between the lower spine and mid-level spine. Severe spinal injuries may leave victims paralyzed and unable to work, move, and care for themselves. According to a publication with the National Institutes of Health, a victim could potentially expect lifetime expenses of anywhere from $700,000 to $2.5 million.

Access to Medical Care

Accidents on rural roads often occur numerous miles from hospitals. The distances and remoteness of many rural roads cause significant and potentially disastrous delays in medical attention. The American College of Surgeons reports that, on average, an EMS call takes nearly 93 minutes. This includes time in dispatch, driving to the scene of an emergency, attention at the scene, and transportation to the hospital. The call time stands at 74 minutes overall.

For patients with serious injuries or other medical conditions, the call time in rural areas averages 97 minutes versus an hour and nine minutes nationally.

Further, rural patients wait longer just for the ambulance to arrive at the scene. According to the National Rural Health Association, 82 percent of counties nationwide are classified as “ambulance deserts.” That means nearly 4.5 million residents live at least 25 miles from ambulance services.

Victims waiting on emergency response and medical attention risk infections and loss of blood from untreated cuts and wounds. Without emergency personnel, crash victims risk aggravating fractures and spinal injuries by moving and otherwise not being stabilized.

The level of care can also aggravate serious injuries of rural car accident victims. According to the American College of Surgeons, rural patients were four times more likely than their urban counterparts to be taken to a “Level III” or “Level IV” trauma center. These facilities are designed for patients with less severe or otherwise moderate or minor injuries. In other words, a crash victim with severe injuries may not get comprehensive rehabilitation or other care needed. Without prompt surgery, rehabilitation, and other treatments, the effects of trauma and injury become permanent.