Few things are as cathartic as complaining about traffic. Maybe a road is badly laid out, maybe it’s murder at rush hour, or maybe it’s been under construction for what seems like the past three generations. But some roads, like the U.S. I-95 that runs all the way from Woodstock, Maine to Miami, Florida, are legitimately dangerous. We’re talking over 19 fatalities per 100 miles in 2020 alone, as ABC27 cites a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). That’s 379 fatalities total out of 38,824 recorded driving fatalities across the U.S. that year.
Anyway who’s driven on I-95 can tell you why it’s so awful. Even only hearing the name “I-95” is likely to make a seasoned driver seize up with wrath. There are good reasons for this. As The Grife Law Firm lays out, I-95’s danger derives from a perfect storm of factors. The highway is incredibly high volume and also very long, which couldn’t do anything but foster unbridled road rage (though it’s no match for the world’s longest drivable road). I-95 is also poorly maintained and ridden with potholes, which adds to the stress and complexity of driving along it. East coast weather doesn’t help, either, which ranges from the icy blizzards of New England down to the hurricanes of the southeastern seaboard.
Then there’s the highway’s variable speed limit intended to adapt to traffic conditions, but which just might add to the confusion. Speeds range from 35 to 70 mph, but let’s be honest: a 35-mph highway sign will probably just tick people off more and make them even more reckless.
I-95 represents a perfect storm of dangerous factors
At this point, I-95 is notorious not just amongst drivers who’ve had the misfortune of using it, but amongst law firms. It tops lists like the aforementioned National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report, yes, but also makes the danger cut on sites like Ward and Smith Personal Injury and Vaughn and Vaughn. Some lawyers, like the Law Offices of Brent C. Miller (based in Florida, it should be noted), place Florida’s 132-mile-long I-4 at the top of the killer roadway list. But I-95 is a staggering 1,920 miles long, which definitely increases the likelihood of accidents and opportunities for less-than-stellar driving. It’s so long and convoluted, in fact, that it was still under construction until September of 2018 at exit 7A in Lawrence Township, New Jersey. President Eisenhower commissioned the highway in 1956.
Those seeking to hit the I-95 either north or south will also have to contend with another consequence of the highway’s length: endless lane closures. The Eastern Transport Coalition has a real-time traffic map of I-95 that’s about as janky as the highway itself, while states like Florida via the Florida Department of Transportation have state-wide listings of lane closures. The I-95 Exit Guide, meanwhile, has close-up traffic maps of individual segments of the highway at various junctures, like at Wilmington, Delaware, or Savannah, Georgia. If your area isn’t on the list, well, there’s always Google. Just don’t stare at your phone so long that you become a fatality statistic — and maybe try avoiding the state with the most distracted drivers or the one with the worst roads, too.
