Why Maine’s Back Roads Are Far More Dangerous Than You Think

We're all used to looking our for critters.

Driving on Maine's back roads is not only a rite of passage for young Maine drivers, but it's also one of the more enjoyable things you can do, if you find yourself with a little time to kill. I feel bad for states where the cities are so big that it's actually hard to get out of town and into the rural areas. You folks are missing out.

Read More: Unpopular Opinion: Maine Drivers are Now the Worst in New England

I remember when I first got my license, I'd drive all over the place, for hours at a time. I just wanted to go everywhere and see all the things. And Maine's back roads offer plenty to look at and enjoy. It also has one of the most dangerous hazards one can experience... Other drivers.

Mainers are some of the worst back road drivers in the country.

I admit, I live out on a back road, and I've been known to drive a bit faster than I should when I know I hit the area where the cops don't go. I've even been known to pass cars out there, who were going way too slow. And by slow, I mean like 10mph under the speed limit. But I try to be safe.

But overall, according to a recent study, the data indicates that Mainers are the 8th worst back road drivers in all of the US. For instance, in 2022 we had 153 rural crash fatalities. Annually, 11 people per 100,000 perish on Maine's back roads. This would include bad weather, speed, alcohol... all are factors in our bad back road driving.

As bad as it sounds, we're far from the worst.

Mississippi is a state with about twice the population of Maine, but they have nearly 3 times as many rural crash fatalities as we have annually. Vermont was the only other New England state in the Top 20, at #13. It's surprising, because most of the other New England states have plenty of back roads like we do.

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Other states certainly have more accidents per year, but they also have proportionately larger populations than we do, so some of them actually appear further down the list. Regardless, this is not one of those things we should be bragging about. We're such a small state, it sucks to lose people this way. We should probably try harder...