Two truck crashes on I-70 due to speed in construction zone

On behalf of Noland Law Firm, LLC posted in truck accidents on Friday, June 19, 2015.

Sometime, if you are bored, stop at a business or rest area along I-70 in the vicinity of Kansas City and count the number of truck that pass in 60 seconds. Then multiply that number by 1440, which the number of minutes in one day. It is very likely a large number.

I-70, like the other transcontinental interstates, I-10, 1-40, I-80 and I-90, it carries substantial east-west traffic. And much of that traffic is trucks carrying freight from coast to coast. It’s not surprising it passes through Missouri, Kansas City and St. Louis has long been gateways to the West. 

But that truck traffic carries something else besides freight. It carries risk. A fully loaded, 80,000 pound semi-truck travelling at 65 miles per hour has the potential energy of a large explosive device and anyone who has witnessed a truck accident knows what happens when that potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy in an accident.

Because acceleration, or in an accident, deceleration, is the change in velocity over the change in time, when a moving object strikes a stationary object, the deceleration can be deadly.

One of the great values of the interstate highways is the constant speed. There are no stop signs. Except when there is construction. When lanes narrow or when traffic is moved to a single lane, traffic often slows or comes to a complete halt.

A section of I-70 in Illinois saw two such accidents with truck striking other stopped trucks. One truck driver was killed and a Missouri trucker was among those injured in the other crash. Both crashes could have been even worse, had the speeding trucks crashed into passenger vehicles instead of other large trucks.

If you see signs warning of road construction, slow down, keep your phone off and maintain a safe following distance with other vehicles.