Lately motorists such as myself have been encountering more hazards than usual on that obstacle course to and from work. It seems like there are more of those construction zones created by work crews that are still trying to catch up with the huge repair backlog created by last winter’s storms.
On the highways I’ve encountered plenty of signs that alert you to the fact that the right lane or left lane is closing about a thousand feet in the future. I try to get over to the open lane as soon as possible, but too often there seems to be that one driver who just can’t accept a one-lane situation and delays crossing over until the last moment. I have to slow down while he or she makes that big decision to switch lanes.
There are also drivers who can’t accept the idea that the speed limit is going to drop from 70 mph to a paltry 55 mph. “I can’t drive 55” is a good title for a song, but a bad attitude when speeding through a construction zone. More than once while going through a construction site at the posted speed limit, I’ve had an impatient felon behind me. There always seems to be somebody who just can’t wait another second.
Like it or not, we need to slow down when the folks wearing the fluorescent yellow vests are standing two feet from the road.
Maybe my most harrowing experience happened more than 10 years ago when I was driving to a crash on Interstate 77 near the Ingleside exit. The wreck was at a construction zone, so I couldn’t just pull off the road. I was slowing down, but there was a fellow in a big pick-up truck right behind me who was oblivious to that fact. He was a couple feet off my bumper and going the full speed limit. I checked my rearview mirror and saw a sight that always scares me — he was talking on his cell phone.
One tap of the brakes and he would have gone right over me. He might have noticed later. “Here’s your problem, sir. There’s a little car wedged under there.”
We got past the construction site, I accelerated to get him off my bumper and he quickly passed me by. To this day, I wonder if he even saw me.
I turned around at the next turn off and headed back to the crash scene. Without too much trouble, I found a place to park — always a challenge at a crash scene — and started gathering both information and pictures.
Then I heard people yelling and ran to see what was happening. A state trooper had been knocked cold.
What happened was something of a freak accident. A new school bus that was being driven to its buyers in a northern state, maybe Indiana, had been driving through the construction site when one of its mirrors — mounted on a long boom so drivers can watch for children in blind spots — swung loose. It struck the trooper in the back of the head and knocked him unconscious.
He later recovered, but it’s a reminder of the dangers troopers, deputies and construction crews face when they have to work along a highway. I know how they feel. I’ve been on a highway, getting the story surrounding a crash, when cars are zipping by at 70 or more miles per hour, and it’s not a pleasant feeling.
I have noticed that a lot of drivers do try to get into the far lane when they notice a police cruiser parked off the shoulder with another car. The deputy or trooper is being careful, but you never know what sort of situation might be developing. Somebody might decide to climb suddenly out of his or her car or pull out because there’s a speeding ticket in their immediate future. No matter what happens, it’s a good idea to give the officers and the whole scene some extra room.
They have to put themselves in harm’s way enough already without careless drivers adding to their burdens.
Let’s watch what we’re doing, stay off the cell phones, don’t text, don’t change CDs, eat breakfast, spill hot coffee into our laps or do all those usually stationary activities when we’re driving 70 mph. Those are all the sorts of things that can wait while we’re traveling from Point A to Point B at high speeds.
Greg Jordan is a reporter for the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at gjordan@bdtonline.com.
Columns
September 2, 2010
Highway dangers: Emergency officials and road crews need a brake
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