Driving anywhere can be dangerous, but there are certain sections of Cobb County that rise above the rest.
According to a study from a California data visualization firm and an Atlanta law firm, Cobb has some of the deadliest stretches of road in Georgia.
Butler Wooten & Peak, which had data group 1Point21 Interactive conduct the study, acknowledged that it's a bit odd that a law firm would do such an analysis, but they had a reason.
READ | Study says Georgia's most fatal stretch of road is in Atlanta
"Being aware of locations with a high concentration of fatal crashes can help drivers make better choices in their vehicle and even lead to identifying and fixing potentially dangerous conditions," the firm wrote on its website.
But it does make sense that the law firm would commission such a study. The 30-year-old law firm specializes in vehicle accidents and has won millions in settlements against car companies and others involved in fatal car accidents.
Attorneys at the firm represented the family of a four-year-old Decatur County boy Remington “Remi” Walden, who died in 2012 after a Jeep Grand Cherokee he was riding in was hit and burst into flames. According to media reports, Butler Wooten & Peak won a $40 million judgment against Fiat Chrysler in that case, which was upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court last month.
The lawyers said they used data from the federal Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 2013, 2014 and 2015, in addition to U.S. Census numbers. The study only includes stretches where at least five fatal crashes occurred within 2½ miles of each other.
READ | Feds: Georgia DOT partly responsible for I-85 bridge collapse
With those parameters, they found that 427 fatal crashes occurred on 277 miles of Georgia road. In those crashes, 460 people died.
The stretch with the most fatalities in Cobb was a 4.47-mile span on South Cobb Drive lined with municipal buildings, gas stations and automotive stores. The study found that seven people died in six crashes during that three-year period.
A 1.07 mile stretch of I-75 in Kennesaw ranks in the top three for fatal crashes per mile in Georgia, according to the analysis, with 4.6 fatal crashes per mile. The top spot in the list was a span of I-20 in Atlanta.
Another Cobb road called out in the study was 1.85 miles of I-75 that led to five people dying in as many crashes, the study said.
The analysis found that 78 people died along 60.6 miles of I-75, the most of any other interstate in Georgia.
Of the 57 deadly segments of road highlighted, 26 were portions of interstates — that accounts for 52 percent of all fatal crashes in the study.
See the complete results of the study, including a map of locations, by clicking here.
Like Cobb County News Now on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter
In other news...
About the Author
