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Learn about nine
potentially hazardous roadway conditions.
Safety experts name nine roadway conditions that, regardless of location, are
considered potentially dangerous. In addition to these conditions, excessive speed,
driver errors, and bad weather can be contributing factors that cannot be ignored.
Remember to consider those conditions as you fill out the following checklist
and describe your trouble spot or hazardous operating condition. Does
your trouble spot fit under one of the nine roadway conditions described below?
Circle those conditions that are most applicable to your situation.
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Roadway departure hazards:
Vehicles leaving the roadway, regardless of cause, represent approximately 15,000
deaths per year. Roadway departure crashes occur on both straight and curved sections
of roadway and often involve either rollover of a vehicle or collisions with fixed
objects such as trees and utility poles. Roadside hazards also include steep side
slopes, drainage ditches along the roadway, and narrow shoulders not large enough
to accommodate a vehicle in trouble.
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Road surface conditions: How often have you
said or heard, "Boy, that road is slick in nasty weather," or "That
road is so full of potholes, I feel like I'm driving on an obstacle course!"
Aberrations in the road surface, such as pavement edge drop-offs, potholes and
reductions in surface friction due to age, wear, inadequate drainage during rain
storms, and incomplete winter maintenance to remove ice or snow obviously impair
vehicle stopping and maneuvering capabilities.
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Narrow roadways and bridges:
Narrow roadways make it difficult for drivers to safely maneuver in emergency
and nonemergency situations—there simply isn't enough room! Narrow bridges
are particularly hazardous. Collisions with bridge ends are relatively infrequent,
but they are often severe. Such crashes usually occur when the width of a bridge
is less than that of the approaching traveling lanes and shoulders. As a result,
vehicles strike the ends of bridges, guardrails, curbing, or vehicles traveling
in the opposite direction. 
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Railroad
crossings: Did you know that according to the Federal Railroad Administration,
nearly every 100 minutes someone in America is hit by a train and that people
are 30 times more likely to die when involved in a collision with a train than
with another car, bus, or truck? Trains can't stop quickly or steer out of the
way and a 150-car freight train traveling at 50 mph takes over 11/2 miles to stop.
Obviously, railroad crossings are of a critical concern, and they can be incredibly
hazardous, regardless of how busy they are. 
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Work
zones: Work zones, defined as construction, maintenance, and utility areas,
create conditions that can be hazardous to drivers and highway workers. Some 700
people are killed and 37,000 are injured in work zones every year. Work zones
are a necessary fact of life in our communities and can cause changing traffic
patterns; reduced speed limits; congestion; and an influx of construction workers
and equipment on the road. Sometimes work zones are poorly marked, and warning
signs are hard to see, especially at night. Warning signs and traffic control
devices may not be related to actual work in progress or accurately portray real
work zone hazards. Drivers thus disregard these warning signs with potentially
tragic consequences. 
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Intersections: We've all experienced dangerous intersections with confusing
turn lanes, blind spots, or lack of appropriate or inadequate signage or traffic
signals. Obstructions, including vegetation, can block a driver's view of signs,
signals, and other traffic control devices.
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Roadway design limitations:
The safety of many local roads is limited because they were built to serve fewer
cars traveling at slower speeds. Because of the explosion in vehicle miles traveled
over the past 30 years, many of these roads are now high-speed commuter corridors.
Their safety is compromised by hazards such as sharp curves, poor signs and markings,
and lack of medians to separate oncoming traffic. Fatality rates on these roads
can be five times as high as on the heavily traveled and high-speed Interstate
system. Local governments, which are responsible for over 75% of our entire road
network, target their limited resources to fix the most serious problems first.
Drivers must therefore be aware of roadway hazards and drive with extra care.
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Roadway access problems:
We're all familiar with the roadway access conditions that can cause driver confusion/frustration,
such as driveways, roadways into new developments/businesses, and blind entrances.
In such situations, drivers must remain alert to changing traffic patterns that
require quick reactions.
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Pedestrian and bicycle traffic: Bicycle and
pedestrian traffic must be accommodated and speeds must be controlled. There were
5,220 pedestrian deaths and 69,000 injuries during 1998, and these numbers are
expected to increase as our population ages. By 2030, one in five Americans will
be over age 65. Pedestrians over 70 constitute approximately 9% of the population,
but they account for 17% of the fatalities. In 1998, 761 bicyclists were killed
and an additional 53,000 were injured in traffic crashes. |
