Car owners take their vehicles everywhere -- from city streets to open roads; from parking garages to forest tracks and desert sands. But some drivers are a little more -- shall we say -- "creative" than that. We would love to have been listening in on the conversations these 15 drivers had with their auto insurance agents.

If you need car insurance, check out SafeAuto.com.

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The world was shocked and saddened by the death of Dan Wheldon, a popular Indy Car driver who was involved in a 15-car pileup at the Indy Car World Championships a few weeks ago. To some it's raised the question: should Indy Car racing be allowed, or is it just too dangerous for the drivers? It's a complicated question with no easy answer.

First, the most basic; how many have died? IndyCar, for example, has seen four fatalities since it was started in 1996, while the CART series which it split from has seen four fatalities since 1979. That doesn't sound great, and when held to government standards, the numbers don't look good.

The National Highway and Transportation Administration calculates fatalities per million miles driven, and if you do the math compared to the numbers of those involved, it means since 1979, Indy Car racers have driven 775,000 miles or so, meaning with eight fatalities that 10 drivers die per million miles driven; even the worst state in the Union for traffic fatalities, Montana, averages 2.12 fatalities per million miles driven. Still, in the history of Indy Car driving, more drivers have died off the track for other reasons than on it in a crash.

Of course, driving itself is unsafe: car accidents come in fourth, after heart disease, cancer, and stroke, as the way you're most likely to die, according to the National Safety Council. The flip-side of that, of course, is that Indy Car racing is a lot different from driving down to the store for a gallon of milk: it's contained, high-speed, and there are a lot of competitors in a small area.

Still, fatalities on the Indy Car circuits are rare compared to their rivals in stock car racing. NASCAR alone has had 52 fatal accidents since 1949, eight of those in the last decade and three in 2000. There have literally been 33% more fatalities at Daytona than all of Indy Car racing. This isn't to say NASCAR doesn't take safety seriously: it's worked hard to protect drivers and stop fatalities, in fact using safety technology well ahead of what's available to consumers. And it's worth noting the vast majority of tragedies among NASCAR drivers happen off the track and are often due to medical issues that have nothing to do with racing. But if we're discussing outlawing one, we should take a look at the other.

It's also worth looking at other sports fatalities: professional football has seen five in-game fatalities, professional baseball has seen three deaths during a game, and the NHL has seen two. Football and ice hockey also raise serious questions about injuries and player quality of life. While they may have fewer player deaths on the field, issues surrounding head injuries, broken limbs, and other health problems can haunt players for years and cut their lives short. While the data is still cursory, it's starting to look like football and hockey players are at far more health risk than any other sport...including motorsports.

In the end, it's simply this: motorsports are incredibly dangerous, but there isn't a single driver who gets into the seat unaware of the risks. Similarly, their league wants their drivers to be safe, and new safety technologies are being developed and incorporated almost daily into the vehicles that roll out onto the track. Millions of dollars are poured into making the sport as safe as possible. But no matter what they do, there is always going to be a risk, and it's up to the league, the drivers and the fans who pay for tickets and watch on television to decide what's acceptable.

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An auto accident takes place in the U.S. about once every 5.2 seconds. Tens of thousands of people die each year due to motor vehicle collisions, and hundreds of thousands more are injured. And millions of people are forced to submit claims to their auto insurance carriers annually.

So where are all of these crashes happening?

Statistically speaking, there are certain places where auto accidents are more likely to occur. Here are five of these common places (in no particular order):

Intersections

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It stands to reason that spots where two directions of traffic come together are prone to produce more crashes. This is especially true if the intersection is unregulated or only has stop or yield signs to regulate traffic flow. Side-impact collisions frequently occur and intersections when a vehicle attempts to make a left turn or cross a busy road.

Stoplights

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Though stoplights do serve a purpose in controlling traffic flow, they can present problems for motorists as well. Rear-end collisions are common when drivers fail to stop in time for a vehicle in front of them who is sitting at a red light. If the initial impact takes place further away from the stoplight, it can even cause a chain-reaction accident involving several vehicles.

Busy two-lane roads

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Roads in non-residential areas which have moderate speed limits are prime places for head-on collisions. With only one lane traveling in each direction, there's little margin for error if a vehicle drifts over the center line at the wrong time. Head-on collisions also tend to occur when one vehicle tries to pass a slower one in front of it by speeding into oncoming traffic.

Rural highways

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Even though there are fewer vehicles on the road, rural highways are often the site of one-car crashes. Why? Because the ennui of driving in desolate areas can lead to driver inattention - which is when cars run off the side of the road. Spotty roadway maintenance and occasional road debris can increase the odds of these types of crashes.

Parking lots

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Even though few high-speed wrecks take place in parking lots, they are hotbeds of fender benders because there are few or no traffic rules. Combine that chaos with dozens or hundreds of cars in close proximity to one another, and you've got a recipe for bent bumpers and scraped paint. Plus, pedestrians tend to appear from behind vehicles without warning, which makes parking lots even more dangerous for people walking to and from their vehicles.

Obviously, you can't avoid all of these accident-prone places when you are driving; otherwise, there wouldn't be any place for you to drive. But if you make yourself aware of the dangers lurking in these accident hotspots, you can be extra cautious and alert - which will lower the odds of getting involved in a crash.