#RRSAW2024 Day 1: Rural Roadway Departure Overview

Roadway departures (RwDs), also called lane departures, occur when a vehicle leaves its lane of travel. In rural communities across the U.S., over 11,000 people die each year when their vehicle leaves its lane.

For the National Center for Rural Road Safety, the message is clear: if vehicles stay in their lane, thousands of lives can be saved.

For Rural Road Safety Awareness Week (RRSAW), we are exploring reasons why RwDs occur and what we—both practitioners and the general traveling public—can do to prevent them, and ultimately, save lives on our rural roadways.

There are various reasons a RwD may occur. For example, a vehicle may leave its lane when speeding or approaching sharp curves; trying to navigate roads during various weather or road conditions; the driver may have unfavorable behaviors, such as impairment, inattention, or fatigue; nighttime visibility issues may be present; overcorrecting; among other reasons.

Sometimes, a RwD can result in fatalities and serious injuries from harmful events such as head-on collisions, rollovers on sideslopes, or hitting fixed objects like trees. Further, RwDs have a range of possible risk factors that must be taken into consideration when addressing road safety.

The bottom line: as we strive to meet our goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries on America’s roadways, we must address the over 11,000 deaths each year that involve RwDs on rural roads. During RRSAW this year—and in support of the Safe System Approach, which says that saving the lives of the people behind the numbers is a shared responsibility—we will highlight actions that both practitioners and road users can take to prevent RwDs, and save lives!