Illegal lane change wreaks havoc on 95
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By Uriah A. Kiser
Published: October 2, 2008
A tractor-trailer making an illegal lane change sparked a Thursday morning crash that caused many headaches for northbound commuters on Interstate 95, police said.
Three rigs traveling near each other south of Quantico crashed about 5 a.m., when traffic stopped abruptly near a work zone, state police Sgt. F.L.Tyler said.
Traffic was forced to merge left for the zone, where crews were laying new pavement.
The driver of a rig in the center lane tried to slow down and then merged into the left lane to avoid the cars in front of him, said Tyler.
When he merged, the truck hit a second rig in the left lane, forcing that rig to hit another large tanker truck in front of him.
No one was injured in the crash, but the damage to the morning commute had been done.
“I’ve been in it for about 45 minutes now, I’m just trying to get to Baltimore,” said Phil Marsh, who left his Siler City, N.C., home this morning, bound for Maryland.
Thousands of commuters sat in their cars as they tried to make their way north through Stafford County.
Much of the delay began before Va. 610 and then extended as far south as the Rappahannock River.
Motorists reported I-95 delays to extend as long as 15 miles just after 8 a.m.
U.S. 1 which normally makes for a good bailout route to get around I-95 accidents was clogged with cars and even more accidents by 7 a.m.
Two lanes of the interstate remained closed for more than an hour as state police investigated the accident and cleared the scene.
Wreckers were called in to remove the rigs just after 6:45 a.m.
David Tomlin, 59, of Mullusk, Va., was charged with making the unsafe lane change that led to the accident.
The drivers of the other two tractor-trailers were also from Virginia. They have not been charged.
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( Jack Blake ) on October 06, 2008 at 3:10 pm
This happens everywhere, people in a hurry and cut in front of you. Or they speed up and then get in front of you and then turn it happens all the time. Instead of people leaving a littl sooner and being able to take their time, they think they have the right to drive the way they want to.
I just wonder how many people has to be killed or hurt for the goverment to step up and instead of buiding more roads and more lanes is to go after these people and make the penalty so tough that they will think before they do it again.
People get to settled in their driving thinking that they have driven for a long time or that they have not had a wreck that they are good drivers. The las also states that people coming off the side road must yeild to on coming traffic, but they don’t, they come off the side roads and ramps and get in front of you and they think there is nothing wrong with this that they have the right.
I know the police can not be everywhere, I would like to see cameras on the sides of all the roads and for the ticket to be severe and if they keep getting tickets to lose their license, jail time and loss of their car. The police take the car if they catch drugs in it so start taking the cars for people that keep breaking the laws.
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Posted by ( id ) on October 03, 2008 at 7:03 am
When I was taught how to merge, I was taught you go to the end and every other car merges. That way the traffic flows. Here people are so rude, they speed up to stop anyone from ever merging and that is what causes traffic to stop completely. Then the merging drivers become angry and aggressive and begin forcing their way in to other lanes resulting in more accidents and hours left stranded on the highways waiting for cleanup. How about a little common sense and courtesy!
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Posted by ( someguy ) on October 02, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Aggressive truckers should lose their CDL’s on a first offense, period. They are 10x more life threatening than an aggressive car driver.
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Posted by ( masterofnone ) on October 02, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I see this everyday on Linton Hall Road near Braemar Parkway. The road goes from 2 to 1 lane for the bridge construction. It has been posted for over a year and everyday someone ignores the signs an bullies their way in to the left lane. Most of the time without even looking. Everyone is in such a hurry and they are so important that they MUST be the first in line. Idiots!!!!!
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