Study shows Interstate 10 is Arizona’s most dangerous freeway in summer

PHOENIX – National data has showed Interstate 10 to be Arizona’s most dangerous summertime freeway with 100 deaths, according to a home security company’s research.

The company, A Secure Life used statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for 2015-2017 and found that I-40 was the second-worst for fatalities in the state with 51, followed by I-17 with 49.

The three years of analysis focused on May through September.

Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said the agency’s research attributed 94% of traffic fatalities on state highways to drivers.

“(The majority of) fatal crashes and serious-injury crashes that DPS investigates across the state, state and federal highways and here in the metro freeway system, involve driver error,” he said.

Graves listed fatigue as one reason.

“People who have been on the road too long, don’t have enough sleep, their reaction time is greatly slowed,” Graves said.

The study said day of the week and time of day also mattered in the fatal wrecks.

I-10 and I-40 were on the list in multiple states, the study said. I-10 runs from Southern California to Florida, while I-40 begins in Southern California and ends in North Carolina.

Two years ago, a different study listed I-17 as the fourth-most dangerous highway in the country. Calculating deaths per mile between 2011 and 2015, there were 123 deaths on the road.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Taylor Kinnerup contributed to this report.

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