Safe Car, Safe Driver, Dangerous Roads (page 2 of 3)

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."

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