Bad roads cited in fatalities

WASHINGTON — People killed in auto accidents this holiday weekend likely will hit an ill-positioned bridge, tree or pole, or encounter some other highway hazard, according to a study commissioned by an industry group that advocates for boosting spending on road construction.

Bad highway design and conditions are a factor in more than half of the fatal accidents in the United States, contributing to more deaths than speeding, drunken driving or failure to use seatbelts, according to Ted Miller, who co-authored the 18-month study released Wednesday.

Road-related conditions were a factor in 22,000 fatalities and cost more than $217 billion each year, the study concludes. By comparison, Miller said, similar accidents where alcohol was a factor cost $130 billion, speeding cost $97 billion and failure to wear a seat belt caused losses of $60 billion.

Almost 42,000 people die in traffic accidents per year.

The report was commissioned by the Transportation Construction Coalition, which represents trade groups and unions with a vested interest in funding for road construction.

It recommends several improvements that would bring roads more closely into compliance with current standards. They include adding and widening shoulders, widening or replacing narrow bridges, realigning crooked roads, requiring break-away sign and light posts, using more brightly colored pavement markings, installing signs that are easier to read and decipher, and adding rumble strips and guardrails.

"A lot of this is a problem of old roads," said Miller, who heads the nonprofit Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md. "A road that was built in horse-and-buggy days had lots of trees for shade. A horse and buggy didn't need wide bridges, so we built narrow ones."

The interstate system, the study notes, accounts for just 45,000 miles of the nation's 3.9 million road miles.