Safe Car, Safe Driver, Dangerous Roads

Heading for the highway? Make sure you read about the dangers on our nation's roads.

Road Confusion

AAA says a massive collection of signs in Somerset, Pennsylvania, is one of the most confusing in the state.

On a crisp fall morning last October, Sandy Johnson, 46, and her mother buckled up and headed out to pick apples on a farm in Licking County, Ohio. The two were traveling east on Morse Road and approaching the intersection at Route 310 when Sandy noticed a red-flashing signal light and stop sign. The mother of two brought her car to a halt, and then pulled out. She didn't make it far.

A Chevrolet Blazer, heading down Route 310 at 55 m.p.h., seemingly materialized from nowhere to crash broadside into Sandy's Mazda 626. Her skull was crushed, her spine was snapped and her lungs and heart were ripped open. Her 71-year-old mother, her neck broken, took her last breath.

Sandy and her husband, Dean, 57, had been preparing to celebrate their 23rd wedding anniversary. After a highway patrolman delivered the worst of all news, Dean says, "In an instant, the love of my life was ripped from my soul."

Because he knew Sandy was a safe driver, Johnson looked to the intersection for answers. He discovered nearly 70 crashes had occurred there from 1990 to 1999. In the past 13 years, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) had conducted six studies of the site, culminating with a 50-page report in August 2001, more than a year before Sandy and her mother were killed.

Officials concluded that the main problem was a corner house that cut the view to about one-quarter of what would be an adequate distance. Putting up a traffic signal would reduce collisions by an estimated 80 percent. But the crossroads didn't meet certain criteria, so the signal was ruled out.

In April 2002, ODOT requested and received approval to purchase and raze the view-obstructing house. But at the time of Sandy's collision, the project remained unscheduled. ODOT says that due to the size of the state's highway network, it just can't fix everything at once.

Dean Johnson's crusade to make the intersection safe, however, spurred change. By mid-December, a four- way stop was installed as an interim measure and a full traffic signal is planned.

Intersection accidents like Sandy's are all too common. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), nearly half of all reported crashes in 2001 were related to intersections. That's 2.7 million collisions a year. Intersections are not the only hazard either.

Across America's 4 million miles of blacktop, every day a multitude of dangers awaits you and your vehicle: poorly designed and outdated roads, shoddily maintained thoroughfares, inadequate signs and lighting, and a lack of safe crosswalks for pedestrians. The simple truth is that you can buy the safest car available, drive carefully, and still be in danger because the road itself is working against you.

"We've done a great deal over the past couple of decades to improve driver and vehicle safety," says Diane Steed, former head of NHTSA and now executive director of the Roadway Safety Foundation (RSF). "But our roads are not safe enough, and it's time to bring this to the floor."

But fixing problems gets expensive quickly. And in times of tight budgets, states and localities are often left without enough to do the job.

Meanwhile, road use is soaring. In 2000, Americans traveled 2.7 trillion miles, up 20 percent since 1993. And experts are becoming concerned about who's behind the wheel. Bella Dinh-Zarr, national director of traffic safety policy for AAA, points out that by 2020 there will be more than 40 million licensed drivers over the age of 65. "Crash rates for this group continue to climb because existing road hazards and aging don't mix well."

Dangerous Crossings. Reader's Digest wondered how often roadway designs and defects might contribute to serious accidents, so we analyzed NHTSA fatal crash data from 1998 to 2001, removing accidents linked to driver error or impairment. The result: 24,067 people were killed. One-third of them were at intersections, where confusing lanes, blind spots and inadequate signs can cause havoc.

"Left-turning vehicles are involved in the worst kinds of crashes and those most often associated with fatalities and serious injuries," says Richard Miller, manager of community safety services for AAA Michigan. Aging boomers face special problems in these maneuvers. Starting in their 60s, many people will lose some of their ability to judge the speed of oncoming cars. Complex judgments, like executing a quick left turn, can take these drivers 50 percent more time than they take a 20-year-old.

Starting in 1996, AAA Michigan began working with city officials in Detroit and Grand Rapids to reduce crashes at hazardous intersections. A big part of the program: the addition of left-hand turn lanes with their own signals. Says Miller, "Protecting a person making a left turn really drops the probability of a crash."

Other changes included increasing the size of traffic signals from 8- to 12-inch lenses, placing signals over each lane and adding all-red intervals. "When your light turns red, it's still red in all other directions for a second or two. It allows the intersection to clear," Miller explains.

Injuries at some crossings were slashed by as much as 71 percent. Overall, the intersections in Detroit experienced a 47 percent reduction. Results in Grand Rapids were comparable. Over 130 intersections in the two cities have been upgraded; by the end of next year, all 300 known problematic intersections will have been enhanced.

Design or Default?

Last Thanksgiving, 17-year-old Chad Sutton and his best friend were cruising down FM 2869 in Wood County, Texas, when they struck a deer that had jumped onto the road. As Chad's 1998 Trans Am ricocheted to the right, he overcorrected, swerving to the left. The car collided with a guardrail shielding vehicles from a 40-foot drop. The safety device's sloped end acted as a ramp and launched the sports car. It flipped four times on its way to the bottom. Chad died from massive trauma; his friend suffered a head wound. Both were wearing seat belts.

At the scene it was clear the guardrail had contributed to the crash. Chad's mother, Risa Sutton, 47, learned that three decades earlier federal experts had determined that such guardrails were unacceptable because of accidents like her son's. In fact, in 1990, new installation of these guardrails was forbidden on high-speed, high-volume roads receiving federal aid.

But FM 2869 was not high-volume, and so when the guardrail near the Suttons' home was installed in June 1999, the old design was used. Three years later, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) moved forward with new standards for all state roads, regardless of speed or volume, but the decision came too late for Chad Sutton.

"It takes time and money to change gears," explains Ken Bohuslav, the director of TxDOT's design division. Existing guardrails are not replaced unless other work is being done at the site.

"Roads need to be forgiving, not punishing," says RSF's Steed. "They need to allow you to compensate and recover from mistakes. Too many roads fail on this measure." Other unforgiving hazards include narrow roads, sharp curves, insufficient shoulders and no separation between traffic directions. Dangers such as these can easily lead to a loss of control.

Even something like the pavement dropping off a few inches at the road's edge can deliver tragic consequences. Says James Jeffery III, a traffic engineer based in Los Gatos, Calif., "You panic and throw the steering wheel the other way." Such overcorrecting can quickly land you in oncoming traffic.

Bad Signs, Poor Marks. We've all seen places where a lack of signs, or a confusing assemblage of too many, causes a moment of confusion. So we brake abruptly to read the signs or, says AAA's Dinh-Zarr, swerve to catch our exit, cutting across lanes without looking properly, which could easily cause a collision.

At nighttime, signs and pavement markings increase in importance. "Many of the visual cues you need to drive safely are often more difficult to see," says Greg Schertz, a Federal Highway Administration safety engineer based in Denver. In our examination of fatal accidents with no record of driver error, one out of every three took place after dark.

Part of the problem is that many roads, especially rural ones, haven't had their signs and markings updated in a long time. "They're faded, unclear, missing," Steed says. "Pavement markings that don't show up in the rain are just as hazardous. In a heavy storm, you could easily leave your lane and not know it."

Pedestrian Peril

It had just finished raining on the night of December 19 last year and Lawrence Sullivan, 56, was on his way toward Mansfield, Massachusetts. Heading north on Route 140 in his Honda Civic, Sullivan was traveling under the speed limit when he felt and heard a sudden impact. Slamming on the brakes, he came to a stop. Moments later, he realized that he had struck two pedestrians: a 78-year-old woman and her son, 45.

The two had left Alberto's Italian Kitchen and were walking to a mobile home park across the street. After investigating, police declined to press charges. "There was nothing the driver did that was incorrect or improper," says patrolman David Ruskey. "Several other witnesses said they couldn't see the pedestrians either."

That section of Route 140 has no sidewalk, crosswalks or intersections. What's more, the road is only lit on one side -- the side opposite Alberto's. "People walk across that busy road every day, all day long," says Alberto's manager Brett Becker. "There needs to be a crosswalk or something."

But that would be no guarantee of safety. Though most pedestrians are hit while jaywalking, 1,700 people were killed in crosswalks from 1998 to 2001. Studies show that many pedestrians enter crosswalks with a false sense of security, believing that vehicles will stop no matter what. They often don't.

Lighting at crosswalks is frequently to blame. Put a pedestrian in dark clothing at a poorly lit intersection on a dark night and you're asking for trouble, says Dinh-Zarr. And aging baby boomers will once again be at a disadvantage as their eyesight deteriorates: The average 75-year-old needs at least three times more light than a 25-year-old to see the same objects.

Dean Johnson has started The Sandy Johnson Foundation to educate drivers about dangerous roads and to ensure that the problems are corrected. "Our highway system should be constructed in such a way that it does not cause simple driver error to turn catastrophic," he says. Johnson plans to create an online database of dangerous intersections nationwide.

AAA's Dinh-Zarr sees traffic safety as a public health issue. "It's the big challenge for the 21st century," she says. "We must view crashes as deadly diseases and work to eradicate them before they take hold. The safety of our roads themselves remains the missing piece of our vaccine."

Curing Sick Roads

What can you do to fix dangerous roads in your area? AAA has compiled this list of the top-ten improvements to help turn killer roads into safer roads. When you see hazardous conditions, complain. Take pictures of the problem and send them to your highway department or the local agency responsible for your roads. Be specific in what you want, but remember that the experts may have a better fix for the problem. If you get rebuffed, contact local newspapers or TV stations or your local AAA chapter. 1. Larger and simpler road signs, in highly reflective materials. 2. Crosswalks with reflective pavement markings, and countdown signals to help pedestrians know if they have enough time to cross. 3. Left-turn lanes. 4. Larger stop signs. 5. Better lighting on both highways and city streets. 6. Brighter pavement markings for lanes and road edges. 7. Larger traffic-signal heads and "all red" periods to allow a margin of error at intersections. 8. Large and clear signs well ahead of entrance and exit ramps on highways. 9. Clearly marked work zones. 10. Changeable message signs to inform drivers of new road conditions and situations.