Pedestrian Safety: News Roundup Continues - Interstate Breakdowns

Columbus, Ohio – December 2008 – Freeway breakdowns make you a pedestrian. In this story from the Columbus Dispatch, two separate pedestrian-vehicle collisions occurred on Columbus freeways. In both instances a driver was stopped along the highway, out of their car when they were killed.  These cases demonstrate a safety tip about being a pedestrian on the highway. You become a pedestrian as soon you leave your car or truck or motorcycle and start out on foot. Whether it’s because you ran out of gas, experience a breakdown including engine failure or a flat tire, or have a fender-bender; you are a pedestrian as soon as you step foot on the highway pavement.

Let’s heed the advice of Edward DeVennish of the Columbus police traffic bureau.

"The fact is, 10 to 20 percent of freeway crashes are caused by a minor incident that blocks a traffic lane," said Lt. Edward DeVennish of the Columbus police traffic bureau. "At freeway speeds, it doesn't give you much time to react."

DeVennish said drivers involved in minor-damage, noninjury crashes on freeways, or those experiencing mechanical problems, should get their vehicles off the right side of the road immediately. The message is reinforced by signs posted along freeways.

The State Highway Patrol released a tip sheet about winter driving this week that instructed drivers whose vehicles break down to "safely position the vehicle as far off the road as possible."

Lt. Tony Bradshaw, a patrol spokesman, called it "imperative" that drivers get damaged vehicles out of moving lanes when the vehicles are drivable and there are no injuries.

Bottom line is after minor traffic accidents on the highway do not stop on the traveled portion of a highway to exchange information with the other driver. Get well off the traveled portion of the road. Get as far over to the right as you can; and if you can’t get out of the car and stand well off the highway. 

And remember those flares your father used to carry in the trunk? Well get some and use them. Also carry a cell phone and don’t ever stand on the traffic side of your car. You should be standing facing traffic to see if the cars coming towards the collision site are paying attention and seeing you.

“Bradshaw and DeVennish said drivers and passengers must determine whether they'll be safer staying inside a disabled vehicle or getting out and moving as far away from traffic as possible.

"You don't want to be sitting in a car that's a target," DeVennish said. But those who choose to get out of a disabled car must exercise extreme caution.

"The freeway is no place for a pedestrian to be," he said. If the car is on the berm, "you don't want to be standing on the traffic side of your car, or immediately behind or immediately in front of your car."

Bradshaw said sitting in a vehicle on the berm, with the hazard lights flashing, generally is safe.

Motorists should carry a cell phone to call for help if they get stranded, as well as road flares or reflectors to warn other drivers, he said.”