Fourth of July Deadliest Day on Our Roads—Stay Safe and Sober This Weekend
Posted by Unknown on Friday, July 1, 2011
You might be surprised to learn, as you’re piling the family in the car to head to that Fourth of July barbecue, ballgame, picnic or firework display, that Independence Day is the single deadliest day for traffic fatalities across the county. According to new AAA Foundation analysis of data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, between 2000 and 2009 more people lost their lives in traffic accidents on July 4th than any other day of the year. As if that wasn’t bad enough, it also was shown to be the second deadliest day for drunk driving deaths, second only to New Year’s Day. An average of 40% of traffic fatalities on July 4th in that same 10-year period involved a driver with a blood alcohol concentration over the legal limit (.08 or higher).
Drunk drivers put everyone on the road in danger and these numbers are a frightening reminder of how easily a holiday celebration can turn to tragedy. That's why the AAA Foundation and AAA are urging motorists everywhere to visit TakeThePledge.AAA.com to sign a quick online pledge to drive only while drug and alcohol-free this holiday weekend and all year long. Once you’ve taken the free pledge, you can share it via Facebook and Twitter, or even send personalized E-cards to encourage others to do the same. Staying safe and sober will help ensure the only red, white and blue lights filling the sky are from fireworks, not emergency vehicles.
Here are some quick tips for a Safer Holiday Celebration:
Plan Ahead
o Plan ahead and designate a driver if you’re planning on drinking at a party.
o Use alternative transportation like taxi cabs or public transit to get to and from an event.
Party Responsibly
o Keep track of how many drinks you’ve had and how quickly you’ve consumed them.
o Eat while you drink, specifically high protein foods like meats and cheeses that stay in the stomach longer, thereby slowing the body’s alcohol absorption rate.
o Use non-carbonated mixers, as the body absorbs alcohol faster when mixed with carbonization.
Tend the Bar
o Have non-alcoholic beverage options available.
o Keep the alcohol consumption under control by designating a bartender to mix the drinks.
o Never serve anyone underage.
o Don’t serve anyone who appears to be impaired
Take the Keys
o NEVER allow an impaired friend or guest to get behind the wheel.
o Step up and offer to call your friend a cab, let them sleep it off or find a sober friend to give them a ride.
Following these tips will help ensure your Fourth of July celebration is a safe one. On behalf of the AAA family, I hope you all have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!!
Interstate 90 Spokane area bridge work coming in July
Posted by Unknown in bridges, construction, I-90, projects, Spokane
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| The Havana Bridge, one of the bridges that will be resurfaced in this project. |
What happens when you squeeze more than 100,000 vehicles a day into just two lanes in each direction of freeway? Drivers on Interstate 90 in Spokane, just east of the downtown area, will find out on Monday, July 11, when crews give two freeway bridges some much-needed repairs and resurfacing.
We last refurbished these two bridges in 1984. Since then, the daily pounding of about 110,000 vehicles has taken its toll, and the two spans need some extra attention. Contractor crews will remove the asphalt surface and repair the underlying concrete bridge deck and approach slabs on the Altamont Street and Havana Street structures on the busiest segment of I-90 in Eastern Washington. The 24 hours-per-day lane restrictions will remain in place until the project’s completion.
So what are we doing to keep traffic moving? It’s a tough challenge to keep traffic flowing and reduce the potential for collisions. Our traffic engineers took a real close look at how to manage the through traffic, while making room for people to get on and off the freeway, and found it just didn’t add up. So to keep I-90 from total gridlock, we’re reducing I-90’s four lanes to only two lanes of traffic in the 1.4-mile section between the two bridges, and closing several on and off ramps. Because many drivers will choose to use Second and Third as alternate routes, closing the on and off ramps will keep vehicles from causing collisions while trying to get on the freeway and traffic trying to get off the freeway from backing up into the mainline.
A project diagram with specific lane and ramp closure information is available on the Spokane Freeway Fix website.
West Company, Inc. of Airway Heights is the prime contractor for this $1.7 million project. To get the job done as quickly as possible and minimize the traffic headaches for drivers, their crews will be working 24-hours a day Monday through Saturday. The contract includes a bonus if the contractor finishes the work ahead of schedule.
We also have a major project on the Sunset Hill to the west of downtown Spokane and a freeway widening project east of Spokane near Liberty Lake. We want everyone to get home safely, so please be extra careful when you are in the “cone zone” and watch for reduced speed limit signs on some of these jobs.
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