Slaughter alley is a colloquial name given for sections of

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...

known for high rates of fatal traffic accidents.

Examples

Australia

Eyre Highway Eyre Highway is a highway linking Western Australia and South Australia via the Nullarbor Plain. Signed as National Highways 1 and A1, it forms part of Highway 1 and the Australian National Highway network linking Perth and Adelaide. It ...

on the Nullarbor Plain in southern Australia is said to be the straightest, flattest road in the world. In this case it is the monotony of the straight, narrow road combined with long trucks (

road train A road train, land train or long combination vehicle (LCV) is a trucking vehicle used to move road freight more efficiently than semi-trailer trucks. It consists of two or more trailers or semi-trailers hauled by a prime mover. History Ear ...

s, the air blast from which can cause car drivers to lose control) that present the hazard.Featured i
Dangerous World: Roads
on the National Geographic Channel

Canada

In 2009, the

Canadian Automobile Association The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA; french: Association canadienne des automobilistes) is a federation of eight regional not-for-profit automobile associations in Canada, founded in 1913. The constituent associations (also called "clubs") ...

published a list of the most dangerous roads in Canada. * Between 2004 and 2009, the undivided stretch of Highway 63 in Alberta saw 22 deaths and more than 250 injuries. The remote highway is the main route to

Fort McMurray Fort McMurray ( ) is an urban service area in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo in Alberta, Canada. It is located in northeast Alberta, in the middle of the Athabasca oil sands, surrounded by boreal forest. It has played a significa ...

and has seen extraordinary increases in traffic volume with accelerated development of the Alberta Oil Sands. Between 2003 and 2015, a total of 190 people have died on Highway 63 and Highway 881. * A section of

Highway 1 The following highways are numbered 1. For roads numbered A1, see list of A1 roads. For roads numbered B1, see list of B1 roads. For roads numbered M1, see List of M1 roads. For roads numbered N1, see list of N1 roads. For roads numbered ...

through the Canadian Rockies. Funds were committed in 2008 to upgrade the highway.

Croatia

The

A3 motorway This is a list of roads designated A3. Roads entries are sorted in the countries alphabetical order. * A003 road (Argentina), a road connecting the junction with National Route 9 and Camino de Cintura to Tigre * ''A3 road (Australia)'' may refer ...

section from

Nova Gradiška Nova Gradiška is a town located in the Brod-Posavina County of Croatia, population 14,229 (2011). It is located in the historic region of Slavonia, near the border to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The first word in the name means ''New'', and there' ...

Slavonski Brod Slavonski Brod (), commonly shortened to simply Brod, is a city in eastern Croatia, near the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being one of the principal cities in the historical regions of Slavonia and Posavina, Slavonski Brod was the 7th large ...

is believed to be cursed because of the many accidents that happen there each year. In a year and a half, 12 people died and 21 were injured, including well-known Macedonian singer

Toše Proeski Todor "Toše" Proeski ( mk, Тодор "Тоше" Проески, ; 25 January 1981 – 16 October 2007) was a Macedonian multi-genre singer and songwriter. Considered a top act of the local Macedonian and Balkan music scene, Proeski's music wa ...

Israel

Highway 31 The following highways are numbered 31: International * Asian Highway 31 * European route E31 Australia * Hume Highway ** Hume Motorway ** Hume Freeway * - South Australia ** Gorge Road ** Little Para Road ** South Para Road ** Lyndoch Va ...

in southern Israel, 24 km between Sdom and Arad, is said to be pinned with obelisks for the dead. Other parts of the road are prone to fatal accidents due to a single lane in each direction and lack of separation between the lanes. The 31 km of the road had been declared as

red road Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...

(a road that has more than average number of fatal accidents) by

Or Yarok The Or Yarok Association for Safer Driving in Israel, known simply as Or Yarok (, “ Green light”)), is a not-for-profit traffic safety lobbyist organization dedicated to reducing road accidents in Israel through education, enforcement and improv ...

United States

* "Blood Alley" or "Death Trap Highway":

California State Route 138 State Route 138 (SR 138) is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that generally follows the northern foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and the western Mojave Desert. The scenic highway begins in the west at its j ...

(Pearblossom Highway) east of

Palmdale Palmdale is a city in northern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. The city lies in the Antelope Valley region of Southern California. The San Gabriel Mountains separate Palmdale from the Los Angeles Basin to the south. On ...

and west of

Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Cana ...

. * California Deathway:

. The road, which runs from Interstate 15 to Palmdale, averaged some 10 fatalities per year prior to improvements that began in 2006. In the decade after the improvements were completed, fatalities decreased thanks to upgrades like wider lanes. * "Coffin corridor":

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadi ...

in Jasper County, South Carolina has gained notoriety for its high number of mass car accidents. The 33-mile stretch of highway has been called "coffin corridor" due to the numerous fatalities that have occurred on the road. * "Slaughter Alley": The old

Highway 101 Highway 101 was an American country music band founded in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. The initial lineup consisted of Paulette Carlson (lead vocals), Jack Daniels (guitar), Curtis Stone (bass guitar, vocals), and Scott "Cactus" Moser (dru ...

in California just south of the San Onofre nuclear power plant before I-5 was built was called "Slaughter Alley" due the number of fatalities, including a Greyhound bus and a fuel tanker. * "Highway of Death" or "Highway of Blood": The four lane section of

California State Route 17 State Route 17 (SR 17, locally known as Highway 17) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from State Route 1 in Santa Cruz to I-280 and I-880 in San Jose. SR 17, a freeway and expressway, carries substantial ...

has a combination of narrow shoulders, dense traffic, slow trucks, sharp turns, blind curves, wandering fauna such as deer and mountain lions, and sudden changes in traffic speeds that has led to a number of collisions and fatalities, leading to the reputation of SR 17 as one of the most dangerous highways in the state. * "Suicide 6" or the "Suicide Route": The section of

U.S. Route 6 in Connecticut U.S. Route 6 (US 6) within the state of Connecticut runs for from the New York (state), New York state line near Danbury, Connecticut, Danbury to the Rhode Island state line in Killingly, Connecticut, Killingly. West of Hartford, Connecticu ...

between

Columbia, Connecticut Columbia is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 5,272 at the 2020 census. Originally a part of Lebanon, known as the North Society or Lebanon's Crank, Columbia was incorporated in May 1804. The town was named ...

and

Bolton, Connecticut Bolton ( ) is a small suburban town in Tolland County, Connecticut, United States. It is primarily residential with an economy made up mostly of small businesses. The high school typically has between fifty and one hundred students per grade. The ...

has been the site of at least 30 fatal motor vehicle accidents.

References

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