(Newswire.net — June 12, 2020) — Out of all of the hundreds of thousands of miles of highways in America, only one stretch has the distinct dishonor of being called the worst in the country, and that is Highway 99 in California. Residents of California will not be in any way surprised by this since Highway 99 is infamous for having a lot of accidents happen on it each year.
There are many reasons why it is such a menace to drivers that will be addressed later on. But if you have any legal issues stemming from an accident that happened on Highway 99, then contact the Grossman Law Office in Fresno to get the help that you need.
Highway 99 Statistics
Highway 99 is a little over 400 miles long and passes through Stockton, Sacramento, Modesto, and Fresno, with the Fresno section being the most dangerous. According to the National Highway Traffic Administration (NHTSA), there are roughly 63 crashes for every 100 miles on Highway 99, which is the highest in the nation. That is a particularly high number when you consider that Highway 99 is relatively short compared to other highways in the country.
Factors That Contribute to the Danger of Highway 99
There are many reasons why Highway 99 is so hazardous to drivers, some of them involve the nature of the highway while the drivers on the highway are responsible for the rest.
Poor Lighting
A lot of Highway 99 is shrouded in darkness during the night and many accidents happen in the parts of the road that have little to no lighting. This is a recipe for disaster because high speeds and bad lighting are a perilous combination. Even the most powerful headlights can only illuminate so much of the road ahead and without adequate lighting to assist drivers in seeing the road ahead, they are more likely to have an accident. Highways that are well lit tend to have fewer accidents overall, which is why the poor lighting of Highway 99 makes it so susceptible to accidents.
Drunk Driving
By now everyone is more than aware of the dangers of drunk driving but Highway 99 is notorious for the high number of drunk drivers that travel on that stretch of road. In fact, Highway 99 ranks second in the nation when it comes to drunk driving. Almost 17% of the accidents that happened on Highway 99 per 100 miles were because of drunk drivin,g and drunk driving was responsible for 72 deaths between the years of 2011 and 2015.
This is a problem that the highway police are well aware of, but unfortunately they cannot seem to do anything to curb the reckless behavior of some people. Drunk driving is bad enough on residential streets but it is especially bad on highways where drivers are traveling at a much higher rate of speed, which means that accidents are likely to be far more dangerous.
Speeding
Speeding is always a big problem and a major contributor when it comes to car accidents, especially on the highways where cars travel a lot faster than usual. On Highway 99 the speed limit is 70 MPH, which is a little higher than the California average of 65 MPH. When you combine a high speed limit with the fact that Highway 99 is an old and narrow toad, then it is easy to see why speeding contributes to so many of the accidents there.
Be Careful on Highway 99
Each of the factors mentioned above are contributors to the dangerous reputation of Highway 99. Each of them is bad enough on their own, but when you put them all together it is easy to see why Highway 99 is such a dangerous road. So if you have to travel on Highway 99, try to do so in the daytime when the lighting is bright, definitely do not drive drunk, and try to drive slightly lower than the speed limit if you can. Those cautious behaviours can prevent you from becoming another unfortunate statistic that contributes to the dangerous reputation of Highway 99.