Barrier Safety Improvements Are Claimed To Have Reduced Fatalities on South Florida Highways

Statistics are now confirming that the road construction project over the area of Interstate I-75, commonly referred to as Alligator Alley, as well as the Florida Turnpike system is producing anticipated safety results. Apparently some one hundred million dollars has been invested over South Florida roadways installing barrier protection designed to prevent vehicular travelers who veer off the roadway from ending up in the adjacent canals.

The statistic between the years of 1995 to just before the new millennium reported that at least 14 people died in almost sixty crashes on I-75, along the stretch between Naples and Weston, Florida – involving submerged vehicles into the canals. The good news is that during the last five years there have only been two such crashes – resulting in only one fatality (of course, respectfully to the victims and their loved ones, even one is too many). Similar results have been reported for the areas along Florida’s Turnpike, where the barriers have been installed, reducing the number to only four vehicle having entered the canals, after the system has been installed, from ninety-five vehicles during a five year period before construction.

The report by the Sun Sentinel still confirms that unfortunately these cable barriers (as well as no known system) are perfect. There was a report of a vehicle flipping into the canal on the turnpike after a tire allegedly blew, causing the vehicle to flip over the barrier into the canal. So while the system is not full proof it is credited with greatly reducing the number of vehicular crash-canal fatalities in Florida over the last decade.

Part of the system employs lights which strobe at certain spaced intervals from each other. These lights are activated once a vehicle strikes the barrier and a message is sent to a traffic center that monitors this incident.

The source also reports that due to the installation of other barriers head-on collisions have dropped significantly after the protection has been installed.

For further information please free to contact the Weston Auto Accident Attorneys at the Schulman Law Group at 954-349-3300, 1-877-529-0444 or at info@www.schulaw.com