Personal Injury Law

Interstate I-35/I-80/I-235/I-380 Safety: Stop, Look, Listen!

By Steve Lombardi

After you are involved in an interstate accident get your head on a swivel!

U.S. Highway 81, Nebraska - I've written before about it being dangerous to walk away from an accident. In the case from Madison, Nebraska a 45-year-old man rolled his car on U.S. Highway 81, was killed after he survived this first crash and was walking away to a place of safety. I covered it both on the InjuryBoard on The Verdict blogs.

Scott County, Iowa - It happened again; this time in Iowa on I-80 near Le Claire. In this case we have two people who attempted to walk to safety after the car they were in got stuck in the median; probably du to snow covering or standing water and mud. That story is covered by KCCI, KWWL and Radio Iowa. When walking away from a stranded car on the Interstates of Iowa (I-80, I-35, I-235, I-380 to mention just a few.) you need to have your head on a swivel. Don't just walk away from the crash without really looking and seeing oncoming traffic. And if when driving you see crash or stranded car look hard to see if there are people in or around the vehicle. How about just slowing down a pinch and moving away from it. Open your eyes and put down the distractions.

Benton County, Iowa - On an even sadder note a young teen while being transported on I-380 by a social worker persuaded the driver to pull over by threatening suicide. It sounded like he threatened to jump out of the car while it was moving. The social worker stopped along the road side, the kid got out and as the Benton County Sheriff's Office responded to the 911 call approached he walked in front of an oncoming car. I can't even imagine what was going through the social workers mind as all of this was unfolding. The poor social worker had few choices of what to do and should probably get counseling to avoid post traumatic stress disorder. At times life can be cruel. And what about the parents of this young boy and what they have to cope with? Most people probably read this and think the deputies see horrible things all the time and should be used to it, but even they must be shaken. Troopers, sheriffs and deputy sheriff's enter public safety to help people and when a situation like this unfolds around them it must have an effect. Everyone involved is a victim in some way. We wish them all well.

Listen to the 911 call

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on March 15, 2010 (boomark / email).