USA Today is reporting that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s 2008 statistics show more people die in car accidents on rural roads than on highways.  In Georgia, 47% of traffic fatalities occurred on rural roads (700 out of 1493 total).  The article quotes an expert explaining that while more car accidents happen in cities like Atlanta, there fewer deaths.  The article goes on to offer some theories behind the numbers, such as:

• People drive faster on rural roads
• Rural roads are not engineered as city highways
• More drunk driving in rural areas
• Less seat belt usage in rural areas
• Slower delivery of medical care

Let’s talk about each of these 5 ideas for a minute in the context of a personal injury case.  The first one is fairly obvious.  Other drivers have a duty to drive at a speed safe for the conditions.  This is a basic rule of the road.  The second idea is a bit more interesting.  Sometimes there are cases within cases, especially with road design cases.  For example, if a particular intersection is having a very high number of accidents, then there may be a defect in its design, from the way the lanes and areas of visibility are laid out, to the timing of the signals.  One other type of design defect we