By THOMAS HARGROVE, Scripps Howard News Service

Here are the percentages of fatal accidents, by type of road, that involved risk factors like drinking and speeding based on a study of 562,712 fatal accidents in the United States from 1994 to 2008.

Road Type .... Drinking ... Speeding

Interstate ....... 24.5 ....... 30.9

U.S. Highways .... 25.7 ....... 22.0

State Highways ... 30.8 ....... 27.0

Here are the kinds of roads upon which 627,433 Americans perished from 1994 to 2008.

Road Type ........... Accidents ..... Deaths

Interstates ............ 68,596 ..... 79,881

U.S. Highways .......... 91,273 .... 104,323

State Highways ........ 157,989 .... 177,673

Municipal Roads ........ 82,084 ..... 87,512

The following show the percentages of all fatal accidents from 1994 to 2008 in which drinking or speeding were reported as well as the percentage of deceased persons who were not wearing a seatbelt.

State ........ Drinking ... Speeding ... Seatbelt

Alabama .......... 28.9 ....... 39.3 ....... 62.1

Alaska ........... 38.4 ....... 39.9 ....... 60.4

Here are the 20 most dangerous roads grouped by county based upon a Scripps Howard News Service study of 562,712 fatal vehicle accidents reported to the U.S. Department of Transportation from 1994 to 2008.

County ................... Road .. Crashes .. Deaths

San Bernardino, Calif. ... I-15 ..... 834 .... 1,069

Riverside, Calif. ........ I-10 ..... 440 ...... 517

What can Americans do to be safe on the road?

The easiest advice, experts say, has been cited so many times that we may have become numb to the message: Never drink and drive. Don't exceed the recommended speed limit. Always use seat belts and insist that all passengers wear theirs.

Can the public help fix America's killer roads?

Experts agree that motorists often experience unsafe driving conditions that, if reported to government officials and traffic safety engineers, could lead to highway redesigns or even cheaper solutions like cutting back foliage that obscures vision at critical intersections.

The routine act of driving has become the riskiest thing most Americans do, producing more horrific body counts than any modern war or terrorist act.

More than 100 people perish every day on America's killer roads.

WASHINGTON - Ink-based journalists clashed and conferred with bloggers and electronic "news aggregators" in free-wheeling discussions before the Federal Trade Commission Tuesday on how watchdog journalism can survive the Internet age.

Most Americans believe people have become less civil and polite when they talk about the federal government and its policies.

Fifty-seven percent of adults in a Scripps Howard survey answered "yes" to the question: "Does it seem to you that people, in general, have become less civil and less polite when they talk about the federal government?"