U.S. 19 in Pinellas, Pasco counties is most dangerous road in Florida: Study

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A new study found that U.S. 19, specifically in Pinellas and Pasco counties, was the deadliest portion of roadway in the state with thousands of crashes every year. In Pinellas and Pasco counties, there have been more than 150 deaths since 2020.

"U.S. 19 has always presented some challenges because you have really two types of traffic going through that corridor. You have your fast-moving vehicles that are just trying to get from point A to point B very quickly, and then you have your more local traffic that are trying to get to the businesses," said Kris Carson with FDOT.

She says, although it’s a tricky road, most crashes are because of driver decisions.

"We found that about 94% of crashes involve human error. So DUIs, distracted driving, not wearing your seatbelt. So it's really, really simple things. We talked to our law enforcement partners last week and they said if everybody will wear their seatbelt, and of course not drink and drive or take drugs and drive, and pay attention, so many of our fatalities and injuries would go down."

FOX 13 spoke with a data analyst from Consumer Affairs who published this new report. He found driver deaths got worse during the pandemic.

"This is when roads were emptier, so people were speeding more, and predominantly, being more distracted, when they were driving. And so we saw a lot of those very irresponsible behaviors take hold in the pandemic, and a lot of them have continued, unfortunately," said Dieter Holger with Consumer Affairs.

READ: ‘Armed and dangerous’ kidnapper arrested, woman found safe after Tampa abduction: HCSO

FDOT is working on a $240 million dollar project focusing on U.S. 19.

"Essentially, we're increasing capacity. We're hoping to decrease the traffic congestion. We're even helping pedestrians in the area, building a dedicated underpass between Evans Road and Republic Drive," said Carson. "It's not just the major construction projects that you see building interchanges as such, but also similar projects. Are additional lights needed in an area or additional crosswalks needed?"

The U.S.19 revamp project isn’t expected to be completed until 2029.

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