Originally Posted by
thdave
While I agree they are environmentally friendly and I like dirt roads and don't understand the need to spend $$$ on ashphalt for side roads, I don't think they are safer. If you need to stop asap you won't do that as well as on pavement, since your tires will skid.
It's all relative to how fast you are going, a great example is braking at speed on an asphalt road, then pulling over into a gravel turn out. I was with a friend who did that, luckily that the gravel turnout was long and wide.