In this usage, "road" means more than the asphalt. It includes the cars on it as well as objects that could be crashed into, such as light posts, nearby trees,

In this usage, "road" means more than the asphalt. It includes the cars on it as well as objects that could be crashed into, such as light posts, nearby trees, etc. If it is a road without a guardrail next to a cliff, it includes the ground at the bottom of cliff, since that is probably what's going to kill you, not the road itself. You could express it in a way that would be correct to all the pedants out there, but it might be a long convoluted sentence.