Most fatal crashes occur on rural highways.  One possible reason is
that rural drivers drive more than urban drivers and are thus more
exposed to the chance of accidents.  Rural drivers may also engage
more in dangerous driving behaviors, such as drinking and driving,
driving without seatbelts, and speeding.  I am interested finding some
research results that address distance driven as an explanation for
the higher incidence of fatal crashes on rural highways. 
Specifically, I would like to get some information on the difference
in the average distance driven in a given time period (a year perhaps)
as between rural and urban drivers.

Dear Puzzled44 --

A rich source of information for miles driven and comparisons between
urban and rural areas is the Federal Highway Administration data.

The report noted below on Annual Vehicle data includes the following
types of breakdowns – with data for passenger cars, motorcycles,
buses, and light and heavy duty trucks:
* interstate rural, arterial rural, other rural, total rural
* interstate urban, other urban, total urban

You'll see that rural driving miles account for a little more than
one-third of the total miles driven.

If you look at the data by state, there's even more detail, with
narrower classifications of roads and of vehicle types.
Federal Highway Administration
"Annual Vehicle Miles of Travel and Related Data" (June, 1996)
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/vm194.pdf

The Office of Highway Policy Information pages for the Federal Highway
Administration is a good collection of links (though more than one is
dead.)  You may find the 1995 Personal Transportation Survey results
interesting, as it deals with major changes in travel patterns:
OHPI
"Products & Publications" (April 26, 2002)
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/ohimprod.htm

A related organization, the Center for Transportation Analysis,
conducted the 1995 survey and also has multiple studies related to
safety, including an interesting one on age and safety issues.  The
first link below is for their home page, the second for on-line
publications:
Center for Transportation Analysis
http://www-cta.ornl.gov/
"Online Resources" (February, 2002)
http://www-cta.ornl.gov/OnlineResource.html

For more general information, you may find the Federal Highway
Administration links useful:
Federal Highway Administration
"Electronic Reading Room" (Oct. 7, 2002)
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pubstats.html

And the Bureau of Transportation Statistics also provides a variety of
information, including a current study on its Safety Data Initiative:
BTS
"Transtats" (undated)
http://www.bts.gov/

This is one area in which Google can be very helpful in finding major
resources.  Using this Google search strategy you'll be able to find
dozens of additional university and non-profit groups looking at
transportation issues:
transportation + studies

Narrowing the search to the following finds a number of analyses on
highway safety issues:
transportation + studies + safety

Other Google search strategies included:
"selected highway statistics"

It's an area rich with work.  If anything is unclear, please let me
know before rating this answer.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

---

Request for Answer Clarification by puzzled44-ga on 04 Dec 2002 12:44 PST

Thank you for your research.  It was delivered in record time, is on
topic and provides an answer to the question posed.  I feel all kinds
of stars coming your way.
One refinement would be to go from "vehicle miles driven on rural
roads" to vehicle miles driven on rural roads by people living in
rural areas".  The data you provide shows that vehicle miles on rural
roads are less than miles driven on urban roads.  This is (highly)
suggestive but not conclusive about the "difference in the average
distance driven in a given time period (a year perhaps)as between
rural and urban drivers."

---

Clarification of Answer by omnivorous-ga on 04 Dec 2002 12:47 PST

Puzzled44 --

This is going to get complicated quickly, as I suspected that it
would.  The Personal Transportation study may be a place to start.  I
browsed through it but didn't get a chance to look at whether or or
not it had data on rural vs. urban residents.

Another way to look at the data is by route -- eliminating the
"through" roads in rural areas such as interstate routes.

Also, I suspect that some of the specialty studies, such as that on
older citizens, will have some splits.  It's probably best for you to
see which areas you'd like to emphasize.

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

fine work, thanks