Rural drivers more likely to take risks, study finds

Star Tribune

Last update: December 19, 2007 - 8:00 PM

Drivers in rural Minnesota take more risks behind the wheel and are less aware of the dangers of doing so than their urban counterparts, according to a new University of Minnesota study.

Research fellow Mick Rakauskas surveyed drivers in six Minnesota counties, three urban and three rural. He discovered that:

• Rural drivers more frequently admitted to driving while under the influence.

• Rural drivers use seat belts less regularly.

• Rural pickup truck drivers are the least likely to wear their seat belts.

"The most interesting thing about the research is that people were willing to tell us the truth about their behaviors," Rakauskas said in a news release announcing his findings Tuesday. "... Rural drivers aren't wearing their seat belt and think that drunk driving isn't that dangerous, so education may help prevent crashes for these risk factors."

State statistics show that there are more crashes caused by drunken driving in rural areas and that rural drivers wear their seat belts less frequently in fatal and injury-causing crashes.

Although more than half the state's population lives in the metro area, more than two-thirds of crashes happen in rural areas, according to Dennis Smith of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

Steve Simon, a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School, said Wednesday that his own research has shown that a rural crash is several times as likely to kill someone as an urban one. Lack of seat-belt use, consumption of alcohol and emergency response times all play a role, he said.

PAUL WALSH AND JIM FOTI