Avoidable accidents cause death and destruction in road construction zones

In a second, a car traveling at 60 mph will cover about 90 feet, or the five car lengths a motorist has left between him and the tractor-trailer he is following.

In less time than it takes to look down and flick a piece of lint off a trouser leg, the safety margin between two vehicles traveling at normal speed on a highway can be erased.

A second or two or three of inattentiveness at the wheel can set off a series of chain events that alter lives – or even erase them. And the potential for tragedy becomes even greater at this time of year, when highways are being repaired.

In a pre-Memorial Day editorial, we warned that the summer months rank as the No. 1 season for traffic accidents and fatalities, many of them in those road-work zones.

In recent years, the tragic truth of that warning has been seen in multiple traffic fatalities in construction zones on Interstate 80 near Hubbard. In recent weeks, there have been several accidents in construction zones on I-76 in the North Jackson area. Mark Schaas of New Castle, Pa., was killed and several people injured in a June 29 crash.

Other crashes have injured people and snarled traffic for hours. Three accidents in the eastbound lanes of I-76 on Sunday sent several people to the hospital with serious injuries and blocked traffic for five hours.

The cost of such accidents is enormous in the injuries and property damage they cause, in the response costs by first responders and in the time lost by thousands of travelers sitting in traffic that backs up for miles. And calling them “accidents” is not exactly accurate because in many cases they were avoidable if drivers had only used common sense and a modicum of caution, especially in work areas.

Deaths, injuries

The Ohio Department of Public Safety reports that 23 people were killed and 1,477 injured in road-work zone crashes in the state in 2016.

Many of those crashes were made almost inevitable by drivers who allowed themselves to be distracted. The advice given by ODOT spokesman Brent Kovacs in May remains relevant: “Make sure those phones are away, and maybe wait to take that next sip of coffee. Focus on the changing traffic patterns and road conditions.”

So far this year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol in Mahoning County has investigated 32 injury crashes in construction zones and one fatality, that of June 29. Another 155 crashes resulted in property damage.

While some construction is nearing an end, other projects in the Mahoning Valley are being started and many are ongoing – on interstates, state routes and local roads.

To avoid turning a routine trip into a major headache or worse, be alert for work zones. Follow the reduced speed limits. Don’t tailgate.

Be especially alert for flaggers, construction workers and equipment. Everyone who goes off to work in the morning expects to go home at the end of the day. Before a motorist takes or makes a phone call while behind the wheel, especially in a construction zone, he or she should consider whether that call is more important than someone’s life or well-being. It isn’t.

And while these warnings may seem to be aimed at automobile drivers, they apply as well to professional drivers. The June 29 accident killed a motorist and injured others, but it began when one tractor-trailer rammed another. Passenger cars were crushed in the chain reaction.

The state highway patrol can’t prevent every accident, but troopers are patrolling the interstates, especially in construction areas to discourage speeding and tailgating. They’ve issued thousands of tickets so far this year. Lt. Jerad Sutton at the Canfield post says the effort is aimed at modifying the behavior of drivers before they enter the work zones.

If advice and warnings aren’t enough to improve driving habits, maybe citations will help. And while no one likes to get a ticket, the cost is minuscule compared to that of an accident.