Road congestion means your driving trip will take longer, but it also has deleterious effects on driving safety in the U.S. With more cars on the road, there are more opportunities for accidents, as more drivers mean more human error. And when one driver commits a serious error, it can almost instantly translate in to chain reaction crashes that can involve multiple and sometimes dozens of other vehicles.

Such an accident occurred this week outside St. Louis on I-70, when 22 vehicles and their drivers become involved in a massive pileup. Apparently, the large crash was triggered by a previous cash on I-70. As drivers attempted to avoid that accident, whether by excessively slowing or by attempting last second lane changes, the chain reaction commenced.

The news report does not indicate any fatalities or the degree to which any drivers were injured, but the pictures suggest enough wreckage that it was likely that some motorists would need a visit to an emergency room, to confirm, if nothing else, that their injuries were minor.

With the summer travel season just around the corner, and with it, the summer road construction season, all drivers need to pay particular awareness to congested sections of any highway.

Traffic flow can change from free flowing to practically a dead stop in the blink of an eye, or the glance at a text, and in that instant, your daily commute or summer vacation road trip can change into weeks of dealing with insurance companies, body shops, doctors and in the worst case, attorneys and funeral homes.

Construction slowdowns are dangerous and you need to begin slowing well in advance of the stated location and pay close attention to the flow of traffic in advance. While a summer spent in a hospital bed would be memorable, it would hardly be a memory anyone would want.



Kmov.com, “22 cars involved in crash, pileup on Interstate 70,” Adam McDonald, May 11, 2015