Road's shoulder may be best place

[Cybergal]

Road's shoulder may be best place
7/2/09

Over the weekend there was a small story (small in comparison to the death of MJ I guess) about a semi-truck killing 10 people on the Oklahoma turnpike. These folks were stopped in a lane of traffic due to an accident ahead of them. While they sat waiting, the truck came up on them at full speed and ran over them.
My daughter and I were eastbound on I-44 at 4 that afternoon when we were stopped in that same lane of traffic for two hours. While sitting there in that lane, I began to reflect on an experience I had last year involving a similar situation.

In March of 2008, traffic on U.S. 60 was stopped due to floodwater over the road ahead. There were cones shutting off the right lane of traffic and the left lane was backed up. There were no "reduce speed" or other cautionary signs ahead and I was concerned about being rear-ended by someone who might not be fully paying attention to the situation. I had a student and her infant child in the back seat when a truck coming up behind me had to slam on his brakes to get stopped. At that point, I decided to get over on the shoulder.
Road's shoulder may be best place | News-Leader.com | Springfield News-Leader

[rebel]

Wow.
The incredible part of that woman's story was that there must have been a cop close by when she drove down the shoulder to the exit. (I've done the same thing before) And that cop had to have been in sight and earshot of her close call with the truck that almost rear-ended her. And he had to have seen the infant in the back.
And then the idiot still gave her the ticket.
It doesn't cost that much (a day off work) to take that ticket to trial rather than take the plea.
There are literally hundreds of precedent's where a misdemeanor is allowed in order to save a life.
That's just plain common sense whether to a jury or just a judge.
And what about the responsibility to "serve and protect" your honor? Hmmm?

[RickG]

There was an excellent comment posted regarding her article . The shoulders must be kept open for responding emergency vehicles . Even a few vehicles on the shoulder would cause considerable delay .

[rebel]

Good point about emerg. vehicles.
I guess the thing to remember is every situation is different.
An interstate with an emergency lane and a wide shoulder is different than a 2-lane road with just a ditch (like a lot of roads up here).
Daytime or night, rain or dry, etc.
Having everyone camped out on shoulder wouldn't be a great idea. What she did, driving down the shoulder doesn't block anyone and could have been her safest move in that particular circumstance - a few hundred yards to the road or exit.
And the majority opinion is, in a potentially dangerous pileup, how about move some of those cruisers back a little ways to give warning to the traffic behind the wreck that are unaware?
When I've been in situations where I've got no shoulder and only a ditch on either side, I'll leave a few car lengths between me and the next vehicle and keep one eye on the mirrors.
If I see one coming too fast over the hill, I can either pull forward and lessen the impact inertia or better yet, take the ditch.
A new suspension and a tow bill is still better than whiplash or worse.

[RickG]

How about the times when you see a wreck and idiots decide to "help" and park on both shoulders and are walking all over the place ?

[rebel]

How about the times when you see a wreck and idiots decide to "help" and park on both shoulders and are walking all over the place ?

LOL
People will be entertained by the darndest things.
Makes me want to set up a Jim Jones kool-aid stand on the spot!