Digging into the data, I started to find trends: Certain states tend to have much deadlier highways, and different sections of the exact same interstate can differ greatly in their deadliness.

Texas, California, and Florida have some of the deadliest interstates

Texas, California, and Florida all have sections of two of the nation's deadliest interstates. The I-710 in Los Angeles, California, was the second deadliest interstate (after the I-285 in Atlanta, Georgia), with roughly three fatal accidents every 10 miles in 2013. The I-215 in San Bernardino, California, ranked 10th, with a 2.1 fatal accident rate.

Of the 315 interstates examined, California had the largest number of interstates with fatal accidents — 20 in all, 12 of which ranked in the top 50 deadliest interstates. While New York and Illinois had the second highest number of interstates with fatal accidents at 18 and 17, respectively, interstates in Illinois and New York were far less deadly than those in California. Not one interstate in New York made the top 50, and only two interstates in Illinois made the cut.

Texas, however, witnessed the greatest number of fatal accidents along any interstate system in 2013, 340 in total. California, with its more expansive road network, recorded 306 accidents; Florida, with only six interstates, totaled 229 accidents. Taken together, accidents in Texas, California, and Florida made up a little more than 30 percent of all fatal accidents along interstate systems.

Different sections of the same interstate can prove deadlier

Interstate 240, with sections in Tennessee, Oklahoma, and North Carolina, appears twice on the list of the nation's deadliest interstates. The Oklahoma stretch is ranked third, with six fatal accidents and a 2.9 accident rate, and the Tennessee stretch is ranked fifth, with 10 accidents and a 2.6 accident rate. The North Carolina stretch is ranked 78th and is relatively safe, with only one recorded accident in 2013.

While Interstate 95 was not one of the deadliest highways, it had the most expansive reach, touching 14 states, and had the greatest number of fatal accidents — 83 — along its stretch in Florida. But because the I-95 runs for more than 400 miles in Florida, it only ranked as the 15th deadliest highway, with an accident rate of 1.9.