Urban sprawl leads to more fatal crashes, while denser areas experience higher rates of accidents which cause injuries.

Is urban sprawl good for us? Recent years have seen a growing debate over the costs and benefits of urban sprawl compared with denser communities in areas such as public health and environmental sustainability. Using data from nearly 1,000 metropolitan counties across the U.S., Reid Ewing and Shima Hamidi examine the relationship between sprawl and fatal crashes. They find that while less dense areas tend to experience lower rates of fatal crashes, they have a greater number of crashes in total, as well as crashes which cause injury and property damage.