Motor vehicle accidents happen for a variety of reasons. Bad weather, driving too fast and being distracted are all contributing causes to highway accidents. One obvious and leading cause of traffic accidents is when individuals who have consumed alcohol decide to get behind the wheel of a car of truck. When people chose to drink and drive, the likelihood that they will be involved in an accident greatly increases, and the implications related to drunk driving accidents are often more sensational, dangerous and deadly than imagined.
2011 traffic statistics from the Texas Department of Transportation indicate that there were 329 total instances of reported wrong-way crashes, 79 of those occurring in the four major north Texas counties. Not surprisingly, alcohol was a main factor in the majority of these accidents. In fact, it's believed that roughly 75 percent of drivers involved in wrong-way accidents are under the influence of alcohol.
On Texas mother recalled the horror of losing her 22-year-old son in a wrong-way head-on crash. Her son was the passenger in a car driven by a friend who was found to be drinking and driving. The prevalence of wrong-way crashes is alarming, as the resulting accidents and injuries tend to be serious or fatal.
A planned study by the Texas Transportation Institute aims to determine ways to combat wrong-way driving. TxDOT researches will examine not only why the accidents occur, but also try to discover the best methods for alerting drivers, even if they are impaired, that they are going the wrong way.
Source: CBSDFW, "2 Wrong-Way Crashes Getting Attention of TxDOT," Sharrie Williams, Mar. 14, 2012
No Comments
Leave a comment