How Roadway Design can affect Your Safety in Texas Traffic

Government traffic officials, civil engineers, law enforcement authorities, and the Texas Transportation Institute all contribute to the roadway designs and safety systems intended to help you travel safely to your destination in Texas. But our Houston truck accident attorneys realize that sometimes even the best of intentions can lead to a complicated roadway design that causes confusion among drivers and results in inherent hazards to drivers.

Dangerous Dallas Intersection as an Example of a Flawed Design

For instance in Dallas, there’s a bizarre intersection where LBJ Freeway meets Audelia meets Skillman meets Forest meets Whitehurst. To simply get across the street here is a hazard and businesses tend to suffer because customers that might like to patronize them can’t easily reach them through the complex interactions at the busy intersection. After decades of frustrating drivers, traffic officials are finally talking about updating the bizarre intersection to make it easier for drivers to negotiate.

We’ll see what happens. Our Houston truck accident attorneys understand that it’ll likely be years before the update is completed. In the meantime, drivers will continue to double back in hazardous U-turns, trucks will continue to make hairpin turns, and pedestrians will continue to run for their lives as drivers become confused and lost at the challenging intersection. We suspect the roadway designers for this intersection might have been designing while intoxicated.

What do Roadway Designers Consider when Planning a Safe Roadway?

The road surfaces: Grooved pavements, concrete, asphalt, rumble strips, and reflective or painted roadway markings like double lines, dotted lines, and arrows can all help drivers confronting different traffic and weather environments, as well as their own fatigue and distraction, to stay safely on the road and in the proper lanes.

Traffic control devices: Stop signs, stop lights, turn arrows, “one way” directional signs, walk lights, traffic lights generally, turn lanes, crosswalks, school crossing zones, pedestrian and bike crossings, roundabouts, and traffic circles can all help to control the flow of traffic and make it easier for travelers to anticipate what they and other drivers should do. Our Houston truck accident attorneys emphasize that predictable traffic flow can help avoid confusion and resulting collision.

Driver behavior controls: Some estimates place the percentage of wrecks caused by incorrect driver behaviors at 95%. Obstacles that limit the speed or direction of vehicle travel and deterrents that discourage high-risk behavior can help keep the number of driver behavior-related crashes down. Things like speed bumps, crash barrels, raised curbs and medians, guardrails, pedestrian islands, concrete barriers, red light cameras, and police surveillance cameras can all help control risky driver behaviors.

Directional and informational signs: When you’re unfamiliar with a route, signs that warn of upcoming turns, stops, narrowing roadways, exits, hazards, construction zones, the names of intersecting streets, and even rest stops and points of interest can be your best friend. These signs make finding your way easier and help you avoid dangerous U-turns and having to take your attention from the roadway to look for landmarks or hard to read street names on corners.

Hazard warnings: Our Houston truck accident attorneys know that you need to know when to slow, stop, or pay extra attention to the road in order to avoid collisions. High-visibility signs, lights, and other warnings of sharp turns, school and pedestrian zones, construction zones, merging traffic, icy bridges, accidents, detours, and even the likelihood of encountering animals like deer can cattle in the road can all help you make it safely to your destination.

Need Help after a Serious Collision? Contact the Houston truck accident Attorneys at Denena Points, PC

We offer a FREE, no obligation legal consultation to discuss your accident and potential eligibility for financial compensation for your needless injuries. Just fill out our online contact form to reach us anytime. Or call us direct at 281-369-4363.

 

And don’t hesitate to download our FREE guide outlining your necessary steps to make a successful injury compensation claim after your auto accident. Just click on the book icon on this web page to download your free book.