Why Indiana’s Deadliest Crashes Happen on Roads Most People Ignore

June 25, 2026

• While urban roads have the most accidents in Indiana, suburban, exurban, and rural roads have the highest rate of fatal crashes.
• Reasons for this include the structure of the roads, negligence in design and upkeep, and reckless driving outside of the city.
• If your loved one is in a deadly crash, working with a legal team dedicated to guiding you through the most challenging times can help you get what you deserve.

Where do you think Indiana’s deadliest crashes are? You are maybe thinking about the terrible traffic around South Bend. Maybe in Indianapolis on the 465/65 interchanges. Maybe the crazy-making traffic patterns of Downtown Indy. Maybe you’re thinking about the areas around the Greenwood Mall, with the poorly marked lanes and hundreds of left-turn drivers.

You’d be right to think of any of these places. Urban areas in Indiana can be extremely dangerous to drive in and make up the bulk of traffic accidents across the state. But when it comes to fatal crashes, suburban, exurban, and rural roads are the most extreme.

Driving on rural and exurban roads can be incredibly unsafe, and crashes are many times more fatal than in urban centers. There are a number of reasons for this, many of which revolve around people not being aware of how hazardous these roads are and how careful they need to be.

Fatal accidents on roads like these usually have someone at fault. For the families of the victims, justice can depend on getting Indiana car accident lawyers who can walk them through the process at a terrible time and fight to get them some measure of compensation.

The Numbers: Understanding Indiana’s Deadliest Roads

The Indiana Crash Facts Report 2024, published in 2026, is the most comprehensive overview of Indiana traffic safety there is. Anything you need to know about what is happening on Indiana roads is in there.

According to the latest data, you are right to think that most fatal accidents happen in urban areas. After all, the 2020 census reports that more than 70% of Indiana residents live in urban areas (which is defined as the cities and the suburbs and in some cases the exurbs). That doesn’t mean that most people live in Downtown Indianapolis, but a huge percentage of the state lives or works in urban areas.

This accounts for the state’s fatal crash statistics, which are broken down like this:

Fatal Crashes by Region

• Urban areas: 42.7%
• Suburban areas: 21.4%
• Exurban areas: 14.0%
• Rural areas: 21.9%

But, again, that is a matter of numbers. It stands to reason that the bulk of fatal crashes are in urban or suburban areas. It may be a surprise that more fatal crashes are in rural than suburban areas though. It shouldn’t be. Because if we dig deeper into the stats, we see that those areas have a disproportionately high number of traffic fatalities.

Fatal Crashes per 1000 Collisions

• Urban: 2.5
• Suburban: 7.3
• Exurban: 9.8
• Rural: 8.5

Looking at these, we see that Indiana crashes in rural, suburban, and especially exurban areas are many, many times deadlier than in urban areas. What are the reasons for that?

Why Ignored Roads May Be the Most Fatal

Let’s use Greenwood as an example. At the northern end, it is extremely urban, with 31 coming out of Indianapolis and stretching through a long retail area. But as you move south, the urban center starts to fade away, and by the time you get to 31 and Worthsville you are on a wide exurban/rural road. It’s one of the most dangerous intersections in Greenwood, and it gets worse.

People drive fast here. There is a good amount of traffic, but it doesn’t feel like you’re in a city. You may be coming north, and people are driving at highway speed. The lighting is bad to non-existent. In short, it’s like a lot of rural and exurban stretches in Indiana, where cities become rural quicker than you’d imagine.

This is part of why these crashes are so deadly. Some of the main reasons for the high fatality rate include:

• Faster speeds
  • Indiana law allows for speeds up to 60mph on rural divided highways, and 55 on undivided. People drive fast. That’s slightly slower than the interstates, but not much. And we all know that even on roads where the limit isn’t as high people tend to speed. Less traffic encourages people to floor it, often tragically.
• Longer emergency response times
  • If you get in an accident in Downtown South Bend, there are police everywhere (local, staties, county, campus, etc.). If you are, say, 30 miles south on 331, you would have to wait for either the ISP or the county police, who could be miles away. It takes a long time for ambulances to get there from different rural hospitals. What might be survivable with quick response times in an urban area becomes fatal with a wait.
• Single-vehicle crashes
  • A single-vehicle crash in a rural or exurban area can be especially dangerous if the driver is not able to call for help. Precious minutes, or more, can go by before anyone alerts emergency response. As we know, those minutes can prove to be the difference between life and death.
• Road design factors
  • Rural undivided highways are dangerous, with no grade between lanes. Cars fly past each other with a few feet to spare. They are often not kept up as well. There are intersections when a road comes across a town, and drivers who have been speeding don’t always slow down. In short, these roads are an accident waiting to happen.

Road design factors might seem the easiest to fix. After all, there is money in the system (look at all the road safety improvements happening in Evansville). But, ironically, the relatively low number of accidents in rural and exurban areas means a lack of upgrades. Improvement follows high accident rates, not just how fatal the accidents are.

If a family member or loved one is in a fatal accident on these roads, you’ll want a way to seek recompense. You’ll need to work with a legal team who can understand liability – whether that was the other driver or a fatal flaw in road design or upkeep – and pursue your case.

Nothing can ever get a loved one back after a deadly Indiana crash. But you can find some solace in getting what you deserve.

Reach Out to Our Experienced Indiana Car Accident Attorneys

The state might ignore rural roads. Drivers might ignore the law. But the right legal team won’t ignore you and will be at your side every step of the way.

The car accident lawyers who will fight for you are at Hensley Legal Group, PC, a dedicated Indiana personal injury law firm whose experienced attorneys have been fighting on behalf of the wrongfully injured since 1998.

Simply call us at (317) 472-3333, chat with us online, or fill out our contact form now for a free consultation with a knowledgeable Indiana car accident attorney.