I-4 Named the Most Dangerous Highway in America

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This surprises me.

Of all the highways in America, the most dangerous one is the one that I frequently drive to visit WDW and my daughters:

I-4 named the most dangerous highway in America

ABC Action News Uncovers where risk is highest

I-4 has been named the most dangerous highway in America by GPS tracking company, Teletrac Navman. Using federal data, they found I-4 is death road with 1.25 fatalities per mile.

TAMPA, Fla. -- I-4 has been named the most dangerous highway in America by GPS tracking company, Teletrac Navman. Using federal data, they found I-4 is death road with 1.25 fatalities per mile.

We broke I-4 up into three sections:

• near Tampa
• near Plant city
• Lakeland to Disney World.

We dug deeper looking at accident reports going back to January 2016.

From Malfunction Junction to I-75, 503 total crashes occurred. Most of those happen between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Friday is the worst day. April and August were the worst months. Most crashes involve drivers in their late 20s.

 

 

The most dangerous stretch of highway along this stretch of I-4 is at the Florida State Fairgrounds and the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.

Moving east, we looked at I-4 through Plant City. In the past 22 months, 388 crashes occurred there. Most of those happen between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. Sunday is the most dangerous day. August is the most dangerous month. Drivers in their early 20s are in the most crashes.

The hot zones where you are most at risk? From Mango Road near Armwood High to Dinosaur World!

And the most dangerous section of the most dangerous highway in America happens to run right through the happiest place on Earth from Lakeland to Orlando.

Since 2016, 775 crashes have occurred. The worst time is around 8:00 a.m. Saturday, the worst day. August, the worst month. Drivers in their 20s account for a third of the crashes.

The stretch where you are more likely to get into an accident? The 15-mile drive from Champions Gate to SeaWorld.

The U.S. Department of Transportation says traffic fatalities have grown 10 percent since 2015.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/i-4-named-the-most-dangerous-highway-in-america

___________________________________________________________________

Note that this news station is based in Tampa.

I find it interesting that they are saying the stretch between Champions' Gate and Sea World is the worst, when the road to the east of Sea World through downtown Orlando seems a lot worse to me.

TCD

[Memphis 105]

I saw that too.  But I4 is only about 133 miles long and runs through 2 of 4 the most populated cities in Florida. Most interstates are hundreds and even thousands of miles long.  They go for miles and miles out in the middle nowhere.  This artical is bassed on deaths per mile.  I-4 can be a zoo no doubt.  But I don't think it's that much worse than other places.  I would drive I-4 all day rather than 75 through Atlanta or some of the interstates in southern California.

[caveat lector 181]

Not surprised. Think about the concentration of exhausted out of towners trying to navigate, text and deal with crying kids all at once. Couple that with construction that has been going on since the early 1920's.

[ftwildernessguy 778]

I H8 I 4

[ftwildernessguy 778]

81 in Pennsylvania used to have that honor.  I am glad it has been dethroned.  I can think of many other highways that are nearly as bad.  The DC beltway, highway 101 in CA, highway 1 in CA just to name a few.

[keith_h 420]

I will say I-4 is the scariest hwy I've driven these past few years and that is comparing it to I-95 between I-40 and Washington DC.

[wdwpoohbear...Jennifer 40]

I won't drive I-4 anymore.  I was on my way to Disney World when a semi-truck's (just the cab of the semi) brakes locked up on them, went across four lanes of highway, hit the car in front of me, did a 360 and hit my car.  Totaled my car and I broke my foot.  Out of work for 2 months.  I now drive the back roads to Disney which adds an hour to my drive, but at least I am not on I-4.  This was in Lakeland.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

4 hours ago, ftwildernessguy said:

81 in Pennsylvania used to have that honor.  I am glad it has been dethroned.  I can think of many other highways that are nearly as bad.  The DC beltway, highway 101 in CA, highway 1 in CA just to name a few.

But there are no deaths on Hwy 101 or Hwy 1.  There’s to much traffic. It hard to die when your only going 5 mph.  Lol. 

[ftwildernessguy 778]

There have been some spectacular accidents on highway 1.  101 north of LA is a freakin racetrack.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

4 hours ago, ftwildernessguy said:

There have been some spectacular accidents on highway 1.  101 north of LA is a freakin racetrack.

I learned to drive on Hwy 1 and the 101.

 I was raised in Oxnard California.  And both hwys come through there  

And I know there are some big accidents on 101. Not as many on highway 1. 

And Hwy 5 going north out of LA is a death road.  

but there is a stretch of Hwy just south of Fresno on Hwy 99 that seems to have more 20, 50, and even 100 car pile ups than any other stretch of California Highway. 

  It’s due to the severe fog in the area. They call it Tule fog.  (Why?  I don’t know.). 

When you hear of the huge pile up accidents in California it’s usually on that stretch of highway.  

[keith_h 420]

2 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

but there is a stretch of Hwy just south of Fresno on Hwy 99 that seems to have more 20, 50, and even 100 car pile ups than any other stretch of California Highway. 

That also use to be the main drug running route for big rigs. A former neighbor was on the task force that oversaw that area of road for drug interdiction.

2 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

They call it Tule fog.  (Why?  I don’t know.). 

It is named for the Tule, a type of rush or marsh grass, that is common in the San Joaquin Valley wetlands. I use to live in the middle of it in a town called Los Banos. In the winter The Tule fog would come up and stick around for weeks if we didn't get a good storm to clear it all out. I felt sorry for my wife as she had it 24 hours a day but I could at least get away from by going to work over in the Santa Clara Valley.

[Duane 152]

On 11/17/2017 at 3:26 PM, Tri-Circle-D said:

This surprises me.

Of all the highways in America, the most dangerous one is the one that I frequently drive to visit WDW and my daughters:

I-4 named the most dangerous highway in America

ABC Action News Uncovers where risk is highest

I-4 has been named the most dangerous highway in America by GPS tracking company, Teletrac Navman. Using federal data, they found I-4 is death road with 1.25 fatalities per mile.

TAMPA, Fla. -- I-4 has been named the most dangerous highway in America by GPS tracking company, Teletrac Navman. Using federal data, they found I-4 is death road with 1.25 fatalities per mile.

We broke I-4 up into three sections:

• near Tampa
• near Plant city
• Lakeland to Disney World.

We dug deeper looking at accident reports going back to January 2016.

From Malfunction Junction to I-75, 503 total crashes occurred. Most of those happen between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Friday is the worst day. April and August were the worst months. Most crashes involve drivers in their late 20s.

 

 

The most dangerous stretch of highway along this stretch of I-4 is at the Florida State Fairgrounds and the Seminole Hard Rock Casino.

Moving east, we looked at I-4 through Plant City. In the past 22 months, 388 crashes occurred there. Most of those happen between 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. Sunday is the most dangerous day. August is the most dangerous month. Drivers in their early 20s are in the most crashes.

The hot zones where you are most at risk? From Mango Road near Armwood High to Dinosaur World!

And the most dangerous section of the most dangerous highway in America happens to run right through the happiest place on Earth from Lakeland to Orlando.

Since 2016, 775 crashes have occurred. The worst time is around 8:00 a.m. Saturday, the worst day. August, the worst month. Drivers in their 20s account for a third of the crashes.

The stretch where you are more likely to get into an accident? The 15-mile drive from Champions Gate to SeaWorld.

The U.S. Department of Transportation says traffic fatalities have grown 10 percent since 2015.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/i-4-named-the-most-dangerous-highway-in-america

___________________________________________________________________

Note that this news station is based in Tampa.

I find it interesting that they are saying the stretch between Champions' Gate and Sea World is the worst, when the road to the east of Sea World through downtown Orlando seems a lot worse to me.

TCD

I completely agree!  For the last 10 or so years we have avoided traveling I-4 through Orlando to the Fort.  We ALWAYS take 417 from Sanford to 536 in LBV.  On Thursday morning when driving solo to get the motorhome from the shop, I thought I would give I-4 through Orlando a try....  Boy was I ever glad that I wasn't driving the motorhome or any other vehicle of size.  The road was a total mess!

If they doubled the tolls on 417, I would still pay it just to have a peaceful and easy drive to the Fort.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

18 hours ago, keith_h said:

That also use to be the main drug running route for big rigs. A former neighbor was on the task force that oversaw that area of road for drug interdiction.

It is named for the Tule, a type of rush or marsh grass, that is common in the San Joaquin Valley wetlands. I use to live in the middle of it in a town called Los Banos. In the winter The Tule fog would come up and stick around for weeks if we didn't get a good storm to clear it all out. I felt sorry for my wife as she had it 24 hours a day but I could at least get away from by going to work over in the Santa Clara Valley.

Interesting. Being from SoCal I heard the term Tule Fog many times, mainly when the news was reporting a big pile up on Hwy 99 or I-5. But never knew what it meant. 

 

But i I have one question for you....

why did you live in a town called the “bathrooms”???  

LOL!!

[keith_h 420]

4 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

why did you live in a town called the “bathrooms”???

"The Baths" to be more specific. To the west of town in the mountains were rock depressions that were filled with water from a spring or stream, I don't remember which, that the sun heated. The Spanish priests use to stop to bathe and relax on their rounds to the various missions. Kind of funny that with all the Spanish involvement the area is heavily populated by Portuguese and to a lesser extent Italians. My all time favorite restaurant is there. It is called the Wool Growers Association Hotel Dinning Room. They serve Basque food family style and the meal includes a bottle of the house red wine. Haven't been there in ages but it use to be 5 or 6 side dishes served with the meal with a choice of 3-4 entrees. 

[djsamuel 322]

To start, I totaled my car on I-4, near the 535 exit after getting hit by a semi on the way to work (and then hitting a pickup truck as I spun around at 70MPH).  However, this story needs to be taken in context.  The most dangerous award is based on fatalities per mile of the entire length of an Interstate.  I-4 is the shortest Interstate (except perhaps H-1 in Hawaii).  I-4 is also almost entirely routed through areas of high population density.  This is not the case for most other interstates.  For example, much of I-40, or I-20 travel through areas containing miles of nothing.  Same could be said for I-95 through many states.  I would be curious to see the fatalities per mile statistic if the Interstate length was limited to I-95 through Philly, Baltimore and DC, or I-75 through Atlanta, etc.

Add to that the high number of tourists unfamiliar with the area and you can easily see why I-4 wins.  However, I do avoid I-4 like the plague and even though I could save tolls on my drive to work in East Orlando, I choose the toll roads (417 and 408).

[Travisma 1,317]

I-4 can be a bear to travel, based on what everyone has said,  jerk drivers, distracted drivers, tourists, etc.

Lots of times I'll take back roads coming from Tampa.  It can add 15 to 30 minutes to get to WDW, but if you get stuck on I-4 that difference is minimal, and is probably a lot shorter.

I-4 won the worst road, but 192 was third and I-95 was fifth.

This lists the 25 most dangerous.

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/11/10/i-4-is-named-the-most-deadly-highway-in-the-nation

The original article I saw mentioned I-4, 192, and I-95.  They said that the statistics for I-95 didn't mention fatalities by state, just overall.

[keith_h 420]

They show Jacksonville, Fl as the deadliest city on I-95 which I can believe with all of the merges and the curve to the bridge. There isn't a lot of room to recover from a mistake. 

[Travisma 1,317]

15 minutes ago, keith_h said:

They show Jacksonville, Fl as the deadliest city on I-95 which I can believe with all of the merges and the curve to the bridge. There isn't a lot of room to recover from a mistake. 

This was an Orlando based article.  I'm sure that each state that I-95 goes thru listed their own worse stretch.

[keith_h 420]

5 hours ago, Travisma said:

This was an Orlando based article.  I'm sure that each state that I-95 goes thru listed their own worse stretch.

It shows the deadliest city for each hwy in the chart. Jacksonville, Fl gets the honor for I-95.  Charlotte, NC gets the award for I-85 and Texas has the most with 5 entries across three cities. 

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

On 11/18/2017 at 8:33 PM, Duane said:

 

If they doubled the tolls on 417, I would still pay it just to have a peaceful and easy drive to the Fort.

I've only come to WDW from the east a couple of times, and both times I hopped on 417. Love it.

On 11/20/2017 at 7:19 AM, djsamuel said:

 

Add to that the high number of tourists unfamiliar with the area and you can easily see why I-4 wins.  However, I do avoid I-4 like the plague and even though I could save tolls on my drive to work in East Orlando, I choose the toll roads (417 and 408).

I use to spend a lot of time working near the entrance to UCF and also used 417 to go back and forth to WDW.

Well worth the tolls (and the Hertz service fee, as I was usually in a rental).

[fladogfan aka Gretchen 259]

Recovering from foot surgery right now and stuck at home, but on normal weeks I drive I-4 three to four times to Longwood from Lake Buena Vista and back.  I've learned to get in the middle lane, seldom need to leave it to pass a slower driver, just go with the flow.  Usually have a book on cd running.  There have been times the warning signs report accidents ahead, I've gotten off I-4 and done the surface roads.  But so many other drivers were doing the same it slowed us all down.  Now, even with the warning, I stay on 4 and just be patient. 

I'm surprised that the Orlando area isn't on the list, so many lane changes and rough roads with the destruction of I-4 and impatient locals and lost tourists.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

16 hours ago, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

Recovering from foot surgery right now and stuck at home, but on normal weeks I drive I-4 three to four times to Longwood from Lake Buena Vista and back.  I've learned to get in the middle lane, seldom need to leave it to pass a slower driver, just go with the flow.  Usually have a book on cd running.  There have been times the warning signs report accidents ahead, I've gotten off I-4 and done the surface roads.  But so many other drivers were doing the same it slowed us all down.  Now, even with the warning, I stay on 4 and just be patient. 

I'm surprised that the Orlando area isn't on the list, so many lane changes and rough roads with the destruction of I-4 and impatient locals and lost tourists.

I feel for you- that is a very bad stretch of road. My oldest DD currently lives right outside Winter Park, about 20 miles from WDW. She often declines offers to meet up at WDW because traffic is so bad on I-4, and the alternate routes are no better. 

TCD

[Travisma 1,317]

29 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I feel for you- that is a very bad stretch of road. My oldest DD currently lives right outside Winter Park, about 20 miles from WDW. She often declines offers to meet up at WDW because traffic is so bad on I-4, and the alternate routes are no better. 

TCD

We have gone the back way from Tampa up thru Zephyrhills a few times and cross I-4 at the Championsgate underpass.  Looking at the movement on I-4 there determines if we get on or go down a mile or so and use a back road to 192 which comes out above WDW by the new Wal-Mart. It adds about 20 minutes to a trip, but that's considering there are no slowdowns on I-4 which would eat up that 20 minutes.

We left SeaWorld this past Friday, had smooth sailing on I-4 until we got near 192.  Traffic went to a crawl until we got past Championsgate exit then cleared up.  No accidents, just too much traffic.

[Travisma 1,317]

On 1/21/2018 at 4:54 PM, fladogfan aka Gretchen said:

Recovering from foot surgery right now and stuck at home, but on normal weeks I drive I-4 three to four times to Longwood from Lake Buena Vista and back.  I've learned to get in the middle lane, seldom need to leave it to pass a slower driver, just go with the flow.  Usually have a book on cd running.  There have been times the warning signs report accidents ahead, I've gotten off I-4 and done the surface roads.  But so many other drivers were doing the same it slowed us all down.  Now, even with the warning, I stay on 4 and just be patient. 

I'm surprised that the Orlando area isn't on the list, so many lane changes and rough roads with the destruction of I-4 and impatient locals and lost tourists.

Guess that depends on your speed.  I usually set the cruise control for just below 60, and if I'm in the center lane semis are trying to run me over.

I've tried to stay in the slow lane numerous times (which I don't mind) except for the jackasses merging onto the highway that think you need to slam on the brakes to let them merge in, instead of them slowing down.

It gets real bad just West of Disney, those people just barrel onto the road without a care.

We were on 275 in Downtown Tampa a couple of weekends ago, doing 60 and this little SUV goes flying by us doing at least 80.  He was weaving in and out of traffic, cutting across multiple lanes.  When we got off out exit it was either him or a close match SUV slammed into a tree in the median of the road we exited onto.  And the car wasn't 90 degrees  into it, the car was in line with the median.

[djsamuel 322]

On 1/22/2018 at 8:59 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

I feel for you- that is a very bad stretch of road. My oldest DD currently lives right outside Winter Park, about 20 miles from WDW. She often declines offers to meet up at WDW because traffic is so bad on I-4, and the alternate routes are no better. 

TCD

She's up at Rollins isn't she?  If she really wants to get to WDW, she can take Fairbanks east (it turns into Aloma) and then just get on the 417 south.  I'll do that sometimes if I'm in that area.  Only other option would be to take I-4 east a short distance to Maitland Blvd and then take Maitland to 414 to 429.  I'll get to the Rollins area using that route sometimes but I usually return via 417.