Out of Control

If you look at highway fatality rates, rural states stand out as having particularly perilous roads. Is this because they tend to have less strict seat belt laws?

What about states like Vermont and New Hampshire which (as of 2002) did not have primary seat belt laws and yet enjoyed the first and third safest roads in the nation?

A new study offers some other, pretty intuitive, reasons why rural roads are so dangerous:

poorly designed country byways with rolling hills, sharp curves and steep drop-offs from pavement to the shoulder, which can cause drivers to lose control. And because the roads are in isolated areas, it is often difficult for emergency workers to get injured drivers and passengers to the hospital in time to save their lives...