TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

More Troopers And Better Lights Can Save Lives On Foggy Highways

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 15, 2008

Everything went wrong in the pre-dawn fog and smoke on Interstate 4 in Polk County the morning of the 70-car pileup. And yet all the people officially connected to the disaster say they did everything just right.

If they did, that leaves the weather and the drivers to blame, but it's hard to see how top NASCAR drivers could have navigated the zero visibility any safer than anyone else.

It is intolerable to accept that in low visibility, there isn't more we can do to keep drivers from landing in a fiery pileup. The only option is that I-4 and other freeways be made safer.

Even if investigations and lawsuits uncover some official culpability, the same conditions and mistakes may happen again.

The first two lessons from Wednesday's crash are frighteningly simple: First, any high-speed highway can suddenly become a death trap before drivers can stop. And second, too few Florida Highway Patrol troopers are on duty at any given time to do much about it.

Imagine driving the highway that morning. Before you could think about stopping, you and other commuters, tourists and truckers were in utter blackness. You couldn't see your own headlights.

What to do? Slowing down earlier would have made the crashes less violent, but to go slow on the interstate carries a risk of being rear-ended.

The highway patrol's fog advice is contradictory: "Be sure you can stop within the distance you can see," it advises on its Web site, then says, "Do not stop on a freeway or heavily traveled road. You could become the first link in a chain-reaction collision."

If you can't see anything, even the lines on the road, you must stop. That reality should be the starting point of the safety debate.

I-4 already is scheduled to be equipped with overhead message signs and traffic-monitoring cameras, but these improvements seem inadequate to prevent another zero-visibility smash-up.

Streetlights would help, especially in low, fog-prone areas. Urban interstates typically are brightly illuminated. The high volume of traffic between Tampa and Orlando qualifies this highway for similar lighting.

And had there been available troopers, they could have set up rolling roadblocks, driving slowly side-by-side to cause an intentional slowdown until brake lights could be seen.

State Rep. Mary Brandenburg of Lake Worth says only two troopers were working the night shift in the entire county, and one was answering another call. Two is not enough, but it's typical in Florida.

Lawmakers have short-changed the patrol for years. Florida has fewer troopers now than it did 10 years ago, yet motor vehicle registrations have grown in recent years by 360,000 vehicles a year.

The patrol is a convenient place to cut during budget shortfalls. It is a false savings.

Busy interstates must be better illuminated and monitored by more troopers night and day. Whatever the cost, helping drivers better see the road ahead and helping authorities react faster to trouble would be Florida's best defense against another highway disaster.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT