New Hampshire

New Hampshire, a small state in the northeastern United States, measures only 190 miles long and 68 miles wide, making it the fifth smallest state in the nation. New Hampshire, population 1,324,575 (2009 U.S. Census), borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the north.

Tourism is a mainstay of New Hampshire’s economy, with many tourists engaging in recreational activities including skiing, snowmobiling and other winter sports, hiking and mountaineering, and observing the fall foliage. The northern third of the state is referred to locally as the “north country.” It contains less than 5% of New Hampshire’s population, in part due to the mountain passes that serve to channel traffic to the region.

New Hampshire’s major cities and towns of Concord, Manchester, Portsmouth, Nashua, Dover, Keene, Derry, Rochester, and Salem are located in the southern third of the state. Concord is the state capital and third largest city; the largest city is Manchester, followed by Nashua. Manchester is the most populous New England city north of Boston.

New Hampshire has distinguished itself among the other New England states by imposing no sales taxes or income taxes. Communities near New Hampshire’s borders see many out-of-state consumers who drive to New Hampshire daily to take advantage of New Hampshire’s lack of a sales tax on purchases.

New Hampshire maintains a network of interstate highways, U.S. highways, and state highways for motorists and freight traffic. All roadways in New Hampshire are designated highways. The three interstates that pass through New Hampshire are Interstate 89, Interstate 93, and Interstate 95.

The turnpike system in New Hampshire is comprised of three highways: the Blue Star Turnpike (Interstate 95), the Spaulding Turnpike, and the Everett Turnpike, which is also known as the Central Turnpike. The Blue Star Turnpike is the major connecting road between the states of Massachusetts and Maine. It is also the major artery for tourist traffic to the New Hampshire coast. The Spaulding Turnpike connects the major cities of eastern New Hampshire: Portsmouth, Dover, and Rochester. The Central Turnpike connects three major metropolitan centers in New Hampshire: Concord, Manchester, and Nashua.

As the main truck route for freight bound for Massachusetts, Maine, and beyond, the Blue Star Turnpike (Interstate 95) experiences very heavy truck traffic. As large truck traffic combines with passenger car traffic, which doubles on summer weekends due to tourism, dangerous conditions emerge. Accidents involving collisions between heavy trucks and passenger cars or light trucks are typically more catastrophic than accidents involving a collision between two cars. As a fully loaded large commercial truck can weigh 80,000 pounds or more, any collision between a heavy truck and a passenger car is likely to result in serious, even fatal, injuries for the driver or occupants of the car.

New Hampshire’s urban highways are frequently congested during peak travel times. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, there were 139 fatalities in New Hampshire because of traffic accidents in 2009. Large trucks were involved in 12, or 6.2%, of these fatal accidents.

New Hampshire has just over 15,000 miles of public roads that include 224 miles of interstate according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. The state has 670,000 vehicles registered and almost 6,000 trucks. These trucks moved 32,678 thousand tons of goods across the U.S. in 2007.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, there were 388 truck crashes in 2008. Twelve of these crashes resulted in a fatality while 376 were categorized as non-fatal. A total of 136 crashes resulted in injuries for the parties involved, and 240 crashes required that a vehicle be towed away.

There were several contributing factors involved in truck accidents or crashes. These factors included driving too fast, failure to keep in the proper lane, and driving while under the influence of a substance. Vehicle-related factors were also reported with tire blowout or flat reported as the top vehicle defect. In 2008, no adverse weather conditions were cited as a contributing factor in fatal crashes, while in non-fatal crashes weather conditions such as snow (18.1%) and rain (12.2%) were reported. The majority of accidents occurred in the daylight hours (91% in fatal crashes and 75% in non-fatal crashes). Forty-one percent of truck accidents occurred on collector streets, followed by local roads/streets at 33.3%.