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."
I promise that I have not exceeded 106 mph this week!
The convoys of trucks I see moving along the interstate for hundreds of miles - often with empty railroad tracks in parallel - are not moving freight from the trainyard to a local destination.
I have driven I-81 many times in the past, and Montana highways recently, that said, I-81 in Va and Pa scared the crap out of me because of the tractor-trailers that dominate the road. They show no mercy and band together in convoys, God help you if you get in their way. My wife and I even reported one trucker who was running people off the road, and the State patrol’s reaction was “ho hum”. Montana, on the other hand, had all these little crosses at scenes of fatal accidents, which had a sobering effect.
>>Some slow down and speed up going up and down grades, some don’t.<<
If one truck is hauling a load of light bulbs he won’t vary much but if the other truck is hauling a full load of heavy product then his speed will vary. Not everyone is a successful owner operator with a large horsepower engine in the truck.
Did she have Alabama plates? Seems that every state/region has its own set of driver idiosyncrasies. Some Alabama drivers love to hog the hammer lane, slowly passing cars on their right. As soon as they finish their pass, instead of moving over, they speed up so that the line of frustrated cars behind them cannot get past. Then they slow down again when passing another car.
I always pass them vigorously using the right lane.
Now, if we talk about most of I-95 from DC north to the NYC area, then I've got too many horror stories to tell.
All the best to you!
"Over 9, pay the fine". I can't speak for all jurisdictions, but when I was a young man working in a car wash, we washed the police cars of a few nearby communities. It was routine for them to set their radar for 10 over the limit or more. Based on my driving experience, that is still generally true, though there are likely exceptions.
“A most welcome sign on the German Autobahn:”
It would have helped if you’d hinted for us non-Autobahn folks what that sign actually _means_ ... :)
I’ll take a guess. Looks like a round sign that would normally contain a number that represents a speed limit. But there is no number, and the 45-degree “slash” (usually intended to mean “no [something or other]”) is supposed to mean “no limit”?
Just wonderin’....
I drive on US 183 to and from work every day. I usually drive 65 which is the posted speed and stay in the right lane the entire commute. The left lane is often running at 75 or more, and the center is at least 65 - 70. About two weeks ago, some idiot in a Ford F250 decided he had to drive faster, so he passed on the right shoulder at about 80 MPH.
“Wir fahren fahren fahren auf der Autobahn...”
Oh, I know. I think the truckers are way less likely to be idiots, I think the majority try to do the best they can. I do think that things like having a computer record speed that goes over a certain mandated speed perhaps causes more problems than it solves. I think the food lion trucks were mandated to not run over 61 for a minute or it would be recorded.
I tried to find the national average for truck traffic on 4 lane interstates, but my google skils are weak. 81 runs 19-40% truck traffic, according to VDOT.
Freegards
If you have a load going from Miami to Montreal, it takes 26 to 28 hours by truck not the 6 to 8 days by rail. What method would you ship with. Deliver it to the railyard, load it into the rail car. Let it sit for a day or two until enough cars are hooked up for them to make a dollar going in the direction your load is going. Then change engines two or three times, breaking the train apart and reconnecting it back up to allow the cars that are changing directions to be sorted in or out. When it reaches the destination city, unload the railcar, load it into a truck for local delivery. Is that what you would call efficiency?
In 1973 took me 39 to 44 hours to drive from one coast to the other depending on my route and destination. It took a train 12 to 14 DAYS to do the same route. Which produce would you care to have on your table?
You’ve heard of Amtrak I’m sure. Well they have priority on the tracks over ALL freight shipments. Ever seen a freight train sit for four hours waiting for Amtrak to pass. Why? Because the freight train has up to 120 cars and is over a mile long, has unionized crews and paying them overtime is not the way to make money so the trains sit until they have the time and space to run without swapping crews or starting, stopping, starting, stopping, starting and stopping while they juggle track space with a bunch of tourists.
I am amazed that we even have figured out how to get a freight train from one coast to another and do it in less than two weeks AND make money doing it!
Many of the shipments to the Walmart distribution centers consist of several pallets of product, not complete trailer loads. And even if the shipment might fill a rail car, rail freight is not responsive enough to satisfy most of Walmart’s needs. So most of the freight into Walmart is handled by truck.
>>81 runs 19-40% truck traffic, according to VDOT.<<
And the truck traffic percentage varies in direction twice each week plus the day, night operators slipping in and out.
One of my neighbors works in a super large warehouse that assembles loads for all the hard goods stores, no food products. He has trains, local manufacturers and assembly plants delivering to him. They assemble the loads for WalMart, Target, Cabellas, you name it. All done by a few rows of computers and hundreds of men and women, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
You know those boxes marked DELICATE, the handling they receiver in that warehouse is anything but delicate. It’s all in knowing how to ricochet the box off the wall to fill the trailer. LOL They stuff trailers full. They know what boxes on what pallets can withstand another pallet riding on top for 200, 400 or 600 miles and which can’t. Quite the place.
I ran across a similar twit a couple of years ago on BC#3. The road is a twisty 2 lanemountain road, with passing lanes every 15 miles or so, a cliff on one side and a rock wall on the other. Going through the twisty bits, this guy would drop to 30-40 mph. Then on the long uphill passing lane sections, he’d speed up to 60-70 ish.
I was driving a little 2.9 litre v-6 “powered” pickup that was loaded, so I couldn’t get past him on the 10% of the road that was safe for passing. I eventually got angry enough with him that I passed him using the shoulder in a hairpin corner, leaning on the horn the whole way.
(I was in a bit of a hurry, since my dad had called me for help, mom was in hospital, and I was 6 hours away when the call came. They’re both fine now, btw.)
A hint for my fellow drivers: if you’re not comfortable at the speed limit on a section of road, driving slower than said limit is fine, just STAY at that speed once a passing area comes up so others can get by you!
What happens a lot is that they don’t pay attention most of the time, but when someone starts to pass they snap out of it, check their speed, and start going a more reasonable speed if they have been doodling along. Meanwhile the passing car has to speed in order to now pass them. Of course sometimes I think it is just maliciousness. The worst is someone in the passing lane who does this, but for cars passing on the right.
Freegards
The interstates were designed for 75mph speeds with 50s era cars. no way is 70 or 80 dangerous on most of the Interstates. The main problem, at least out west, is that Americans refuse to use the left lane for passing only. When traffic gets a bit heavy the arrogant @sses remain in the passing lane doing under 65 like they are self appointed traffic wardens or something.
>>I remember a Keeper of the Speed doing that in Kansas. She was proudly humming along in her state owned car with a teachers union bumper sticker doing an easy 5 under next to a semi fully loaded and maxed out in speed. I geve her a courtesy blink of the lights...nothing. Another blink 2-3 minutes later. In mortal fear, she shot past the truck and I passed. As I saw her reaching for her phone to call the police on me, I slowed down so she could read my license plate. Surprise, nothing happened.<<
Blink your lights and reach for YOUR phone.
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