Towed Over: May 2013

Giving roadside safety the attention it deserves

There never seems to be any lack of danger on the road. No one knows this better than the people who work on the side of the road. Towing professionals, police, and road maintenance workers do this everyday and know all too well what they are up against.

Even with vests, flares, cones, and high tech flashing contraptions there are still fatalities. So while the prospect of no fatalities may not be likely for sometime, it is refreshing to read about efforts to raise the bar in providing even more fail safe systems to alert drivers to slow down as they approach a worksite.

One effort comes from what I have seen in the news by the Texas Department of Transportation. They currently have multiple systems in place to decrease the number of roadside incidents that threaten workers. While there is nothing that new technologically, the combination of multiple systems shows initiative to protect the roadsite.

In Texas you have three things that help the process

Portable rumble strips
Multiple electronic road signs
Uniformed officers

I applaud the effort and hope more safety systems be put in place as standard operating procedure. I think roadside safety is a process, to be constantly evaluated, improved, and augmented as new ideas and technology come along.

http://www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2013/5/3/Texasinitiatesuniqueworkzonewarningsystem.aspx

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