The highway I usually travel to work was the scene of a 40 car pile-up this morning. Bits and pieces are being reported about what happened, but it looks as though heavy fog and smoke reduced visibility to nothing, which led to the accident. So far, four serious injuries are part of the 24 reported injuries. The photos starting to appear show mayhem.
On a good day, that section of highway is complete madness. Due to a large refinery expansion, thousands of extra workers travel the highway every morning and evening. The speed limit is 65 at night, but that's only for those willing to be run off the road. It's not unusual for traffic to travel at 80 mph and higher. Weaving in out of traffic is common and the safe distance to travel behind another vehicle is ignored by many. So, it's dangerous on the good days and treacherous on the bad. Today was bad and I'm glad I took a different route. From the time the accident was reported, there was a good possibility I might have been involved.
Final tally as of this evening: 79 vehicles involved, 54 sent to the hospital, 4 critical patients and 18 moving violations. To add insult to injury, I barely made an exit due to stopped traffic I could see ahead on my way home. It was bumper cars on an overpass, with part of the railing in the outside lane on the cross street below. Traffic, as usual, was gridlocked in an intersection because people just couldn't wait, or find another route.
I saw that on the news this morning. I could see it was a three lane road, but it didn't look like it would be one that would be traveled at a fast speed, so I was confused as to why so many cars were involved. Apparently the road is deceiving.
ReplyDeleteIt's divided highway with two lanes in each direction and improved shoulders. The posted speed for day is 70 mph. The night speed is 65.
ReplyDeleteIt's heavily patrolled section of highway. mostly because of the speeders and the fact it's a ticket bonanza. As much as four troopers will patrol during the off hours. They'll spread out over the 20 odd miles between Port Arthur and IH 10 waiting for the unfortunate individual that thought it was clear sailing after passing the trooper that has somebody pulled over.
I can only write that I wouldn't recommend that section of highway to anyone between 4:30 am to 7:00 am and 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Traffic moves, but it moves fast and the drivers, IMO, are some of the most aggressive and inconsiderate you'll ever encounter. It's temporary, since the large construction project will eventually end. Over time, another will start and the problem will return.
When I was reading this I thought: he must live along the I-10 corridor through some Gulf state. I'll never forget driving through LA late at night on a dead-run from San Antonio to J'ville, going 85mph just to stay alive, and then being passed by a. . . Winnebago. It's insane.
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