Poppe Law Firm®

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Kentucky Home to Two of the Deadliest Interstates in America

Kentuckians are all-too familiar with the fact that interstates 65 and 75 have frequent wrecks and accidents, often resulting in deaths. In just the past two months, drivers in Louisville, Elizabethtown, and Bowling Green on I-65, and in Northern Kentucky, Lexington, Richmond, and London on I-75, have been in traffic jams and witnessed the horrible tragedies that frequently occur on these two major interstates.

A recent study by Teletrac-Navman, a software company that monitors interstate wrecks and traffic, confirms what most Kentuckians suspect—interstates 65 and 75 are among the deadliest in the nation.

In fact, metro Louisville ranks as the deadliest city on I-65, which travels over 880 miles through other major cities including Chicago, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Birmingham. The study reports there are, on average, 0.475 deaths per year per mile on I-65, for over 421 deaths a year across the full length of the interstate. The deadliest month on I-65 is August and the deadliest day of the week is Sunday.

Interstate 75 is even deadlier, with 0.599 deaths per mile per year. I-75 travels over 1,786 miles from Sault Ste. Marie, Canada to Miami, and there are over 1,070 deaths across the entire length of I-75. The deadliest city on I-75 is, unsurprisingly, Atlanta. The deadliest month is also August and the deadliest day also Sunday.

With an expectation that the tonnage of freight transported on semi-trucks will increase by 25.6% in the next decade, and a 9% increase in wrecks from distracted driving documented in 2019, the likelihood that safety on I-65 and I-75 will suddenly improve is dim. Meanwhile, accidents and wrecks on Kentucky’s interstates have claimed entire families, including a family of five from Michigan killed on I-75 in Lexington in January on their way home from Disney World.   

Here at the Poppe Law Firm®, we represent people and families from all across Kentucky, and Southern Indiana, involved in car accidents, semi-truck wrecks, and motorcycle wrecks who have suffered catastrophic loss. If you or a loved one has been involved in a serious or deadly wreck or accident, please contact us

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