Simply put, roads are a hazardous place. Whether you are traveling just out of your driveway and in your neighborhood, or on a busy highway, you should always be looking for dangers, and be ready to avoid them defensively. Although this may sound like a negative mindset, extreme vigilance on the roads is critical to your safety, and that of your passengers. Unfortunately, there are dangers lurking nearly everywhere, whether you are at the possible mercy of a distracted driver, drowsy driver, a drunk driver, an inexperienced driver, a reckless driver, or a motorist with other issues who could put you in harm’s way.
Road construction areas are extremely common today, and you may be so desensitized to driving in these sections of town that you forget they are doubly hazardous. While your speed should be substantially slowed down to match road-signs in construction areas, one of the most important things to remember is that workers may be around even if you do not see them at first. The last thing you want to do is clip a construction worker, or worse, injure them severely or even cause a fatality. There may also be a lot of equipment jutting out that you must navigate safely past too—and it could surprise you.
Do not tailgate or travel even remotely too closely in road construction areas. You may need to brake abruptly if there is someone stopping or slowing traffic. It may also be more difficult to drive through construction zones if there is bad weather too, so drive as slowly as possible—and remember how steep fines can be for speeding in a construction zone.
This is an area where you must drive more defensively than ever as construction zones are one of the top areas for accidents. And although you should never practice distracted driving while on the road, looking at your smart phone or talking or texting in a construction zone is exponentially more dangerous in these cases, as is doing anything except focusing on your driving, with lanes that may be much more narrow than usual and marked off with cones in some places.
If you have been injured due to the negligence of others, please call the law offices of Andrew ‘Pike’ Piekalkiewicz, PLLC as soon as possible at (713) 748-7453 or visit AttorneySgtPike for a no obligation case review.
