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Posted on 07/20/2011 7:47:43 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
WOODSTOCK -- The last few days have been busy for Shenandoah County emergency personnel on Interstate 81.
Or, as some people may feel, it's been like old times.
Four notable crashes in a 10-mile stretch since Thursday afternoon -- there were two that day, one on Friday and a tractor-trailer overturned Tuesday morning -- may have been the most in such a short period of time since the Virginia Department of Transportation raised the posted speed limit throughout most of the jurisdiction to 70 mph last the fall. Official crash data, though, is not yet available for the past few months, although for all of 2010, there were 29 fewer crashes in the county than a year earlier, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
The DMV does not track road-specific crash data.
However, speed is not necessarily always the culprit. On Friday and Tuesday, for example, it appeared to be driver fatigue, said Sgt. F.L. "Les" Tyler, a state police spokesman. Felton L. Joseph, 59, of Pearland, Texas, was charged with reckless driving on Tuesday after overturning his tractor-trailer hauling tea on the right shoulder at southbound mile marker 284. There were no injuries.
Based on what local officials have observed, after roughly nine months with the new speed limit, nobody appears to have found a reason yet to change their original impression on 70 mph.
"I don't think there is any good evidence that the interstate is more dangerous now than it was before or even that actual speeds have increased at all," said Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, who favored the move. "VDOT made the determination about which areas could safely support the speed limit increase, and I think we should wait and see additional data from them before we jump to any conclusions."
Shenandoah County Fire Chief Gary Yew said he has always thought the increase was a mistake. He is concerned about public safety, particularly in peak travel times, such as the current summer vacation period.
"The more serious crashes over the years, they certainly have been attributed to speed," Yew said. "I can't help but think it compounds our problems."
VDOT spokeswoman Sandy Myers said her agency is waiting to collect data for a three-year period before reviewing the effectiveness of the speed limit change. She echoes Gilbert in stating that it's too early to make any conclusions.
The data, when available, may not matter for some people. William Pence, president of Appalachian Freight Carriers in Edinburg, said 65 mph is fast enough for truckers, so the hike to 70 mph did not sit well with him. Drivers in his company, though, are directed to set their speed at 67 mph, which conserves fuel.
"And that's fast enough for trucks," Pence said.
He said too many crashes involve truck drivers speeding and following too closely, and that was before they were granted the opportunity to travel faster.
"Any rear-end collision involving our drivers," Pence said, "they're outta here."
The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution opposing the increase last year. District 1 representative Dick Neese said his opinion hasn't changed and his concern for I-81 is so great that whenever he must make a Harrisonburg-to-Strasburg trip, he takes U.S. 11.
"I got stopped in [a crash backup] one time," Neese said. "I said there's no way I'm going to let this happen again."
If we could get the greenies interested, not in building Walt Disney trains to nowhere, but in moving more freight traffic off the highways and onto the freight railroads, I think it would be well worth the effort.
There are a few test strips North of Filmore and one North of Scipio that are 80 miles per hour....and it seems to be working well.
A bud of mine told me there was an old Popular Mechanics article still floating around which told you how to build an inexpensive device which fried radar guns aimed at you.
I'd love to try it out in Virginia sometime.
The problem is seldom the speed limit. The problem is people following too closely. Oh, and if you’re going to drive slow, keep to the right.
One of the most spectacular and beautiful stretches of highway in the nation. You would have to be a suicide jockey to take it at much more than 55 mph.
Interesting fact: I-15 through Utah and I-80 through Wyoming are both close to exactly 400 miles long. The last mile mark going north or east on either is, if I recall, either 400 or 401.
Walmart replaces a lot of product as it is used, so a large portion of the deliveries to their distribution centers is LTL.
Mostly 2 lanes each direction with a lot of long hills and truck traffic.
Trucks will pull out sharply into the left lane on the uphils and take 2 or 3 miles to pass. Left lane traffic almost has to tailgate to make sure they don't have a truck pull out on them.
The scenery is beautiful but the driving is stressful.
Nope. I-81 is carrying more truck traffic than it was ever designed to handle, and it’s a constant issue. It’s actually worse the further south you go, once you get into the hillier stretches around and south of Roanoke. Most of the highway could stand to go to six lanes but that would be such a massive project, I seriously doubt VDOT would ever be able to get the money to do it (at least, and have it done in our lifetimes).
One big issue for truckers on I-81 is the lack of rest areas. VDOT closed down a lot of the rest stops, especially south of I-64. I think there’s one stretch, can’t remember if it’s northbound or southbound, where there’s over 110 miles between rest areas. There’s places at exits to pull over and take a leak or stretch your legs, of course, but I imagine it’s a bit more of a pain for a long-haul trucker, and more convenient to have those rest areas right along the highway.
I’ve never understood why a state like Virginia, which has such huge tourism numbers and gets millions of visitors each year via the Interstates, has such godawful rest areas. Every other state I’ve ever visited does them better than my beloved Commonwealth does. It’s insane.
}:-)4
The problem on 81 is trucks, I reckon there’s not much you can do about it. Some trucks go the speed limit or over, some go 5-10 miles under. Some slow down and speed up going up and down grades, some don’t. I know some companies have computers that track the speed on their trucks so drivers go the speed they want them to, for insurance purposes I guess. One truck going slightly faster than another truck takes a long time to pass, especially on even gentle up hill grades. Also many passenger vehicles just stay in passing lane because of the slower moving trucks, which causes its own problems. I would love to know if the volume of truck traffic on 81 is more or less for a 4 lane highway on average. That said, the idiots are almost always in passenger vehicles, not trucks.
Freegards
Just a word of advice: Don’t cruise at 92 on I70 in Colorado.
Three of 'em.....I made the run thru the entire state just last week. Most of the western and plains states we hit allow 75, with a couple holding to 70.....I still pretty much locked in the Cruise at 82 with no problems. At that speed I get passed just enough to know there are no State Cops coming up from behind.
Still that way today.
According to VDOT, 19 to 40 percent truck traffic; designed to carry only 15 percent trucks. 35 percent of I-81 fatal accidents involved a truck. I would like to know the % of accidents overall that involve trucks. I couldn’t find the national average for truck traffic.
Freegards
And no trucks allowed to pass
Makes for smooth driving.
What’s the posted speed there nowadays?
Joe
The posted speed is 70. I routinely set my speed at 78 with no problems from the troopers.
MFO
I recently completed a 4000 mile motorcycle tour. While riding I-95 from Georgia up to I-26 in South Carolina I decided to keep a tally of how many drivers I saw doing stupid stuff.
Kept count of how many out of each 10 cars I passed or who passed me. Fully 20% of drivers were doing something stupid. From texting, to makeup, to nail polish I noted just about everything anyone could do. I was amazed at the number I saw with a book or magazine on their steering wheel. Even counted two cars with people having sex!
We need to design our Interstates with lots of tight curves and such. I can say that on I-79 through West Virginia where it is particularly twisty and fun to ride that I saw lots less distracted drivers - I didn’t see anyone reading a book or having sex.
Cage drivers are just too relaxed most of the time to be safe.
***This was during the hated 55 mph days and at that time, I always did 70 mph on the open road.***
I got my first ticket barely going above speed limit through a bad section of Farmington NM.
I got my first highway speeding ticket doing 70 mph one week after the 55 mph speed law went into effect, outside Tucumcari NM on I-40.
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