We saw several cars(SUVs) rolled or flipped yesterday heading home. I've seen a lot more this season, which is sad and scary. I know that these accidents are preventable(sometimes) by the driver, but based on the high number of these types of accidents,and the injuries, does anyone know why there are no guard rails in the areas that seem prone to rollovers. I can only speculate that a study shows that it is worse if a spinning car stays on the road vs. rolling over, but that doesnt seem obviously right to me.

I personally believe most of those accidents can be avoided by simply slowing down so more guardrails won't change that.

I agree SRO. If people would just slow down......

What time did you see all these accidents. I was northbound on I-89 to Bethel & up and over Bethel Mtn in the 3ish hour and didnt see anything.

aejkb wrote:

We saw several cars(SUVs) rolled or flipped yesterday heading home. I've seen a lot more this season, which is sad and scary. I know that these accidents are preventable(sometimes) by the driver, but based on the high number of these types of accidents,and the injuries, does anyone know why there are no guard rails in the areas that seem prone to rollovers. I can only speculate that a study shows that it is worse if a spinning car stays on the road vs. rolling over, but that doesnt seem obviously right to me.

I wouldn't assume that there has been any real evaluation of whether guardrails are warranted even where there is a history of cars leaving the roadway. Also, jersey barriers and guard rails are proven to save lives by keeping vehicles on the roadway.
Of course it is undeniable that driving slowly in slippery conditions is the best advice. Too many people see the SUVs in commercials and think they can be operated safely going 70 mph on ice. Not smart.

There were 4 cars flipped over within a half mile stretch in Sharon last night and a couple more that were off the road. That was the worst I've ever seen it.

As for prevention, slowing down certainly helps, although this scene seemed to come out of nowhere, as the roads weren't bad up until that point. They could certainly do a better job of treating the roads between there and Northfield in order to prevent some of this. It seems that the Emergency Services savings would offset the cost of more salt.

Snow / ice control in I89 exits 1 through 9 is pretty bad. I've travelled that stretch (esp exits 1-3) with some frequency over the years and can state that based on my 1st hand experience.

There are guardrails in some places, but not others. The roll-overs seemed to occur where the drop off from the highway to the median is steep. Where the median is flat people just end up stuck in snow. If guard rails are impractical, maybe those steep areas can be filled with gravel to minimize the severity of the accident. No doubt that ice, speed, vehicle type, etc. are the causes of the accident, but the highway/median design seems to make those accidents much worse than necessary.

I don't drive any slower on ice and snow, but I do wear my ski helmet. Which obviously makes me a. . . . . . . . .wait for it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a safer driver.


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Speed is not the issue for the most part. If you keep a consistent speed you are good to go. Hitting the breaks and changing lanes abruptly is what get's you in trouble. It has been my experience that people in the fast lane going 20 and not getting out of the way for faster moving vehicles causes more accidents. Now I think 70 is a bit much in snowy conditions but 50 or 55 is no problem.

In my daily drives from Moretown to Wilmington area (Route 9) this winter, I have seen numerous vehicles flipped over/off the road/etc. Some of these occured on dry roads. Many involved were SUVs. Some were tractor trailers. Many were also out-of-staters. I'll reiterate what people have said here already: slow down, and most importantly, 4wd does not make you stop any quicker, especially on ice.

And for some reason this winter, I-91 seems to be in a lot better shape than I-89, though I've observed more accidents on 91. Doesn't make sense as there's more traffic on 89 than 91 by a long shot. Plows and associated crews have been out - sometimes they're plowing a dusting and creating more sparks than anything else.

Hawk wrote:

Speed is not the issue for the most part. If you keep a consistent speed you are good to go. Hitting the breaks and changing lanes abruptly is what get's you in trouble. It has been my experience that people in the fast lane going 20 and not getting out of the way for faster moving vehicles causes more accidents. Now I think 70 is a bit much in snowy conditions but 50 or 55 is no problem.

I agree. Usually the lane changers are people driving suv's, myself included.

I also see plenty of Green plates in the ditch from time to time. I've towed a couple too. People just driving to fast on the back roads.

I've had my first-ever (and hopefully last) vehicle-in-ditch incident this winter in Moretown. So the color of plate does not dictate who ends up in a ditch.

Espec on a Thu-Fri or a Sun-Mon, there is a lot of out-of-state traffic on the interstates (well, a lot for VT), some may be "in a rush" or distracted, and can end up losing control. All it takes is a split second. Put down the cell phone in bad weather and turn off/down the kid's DVD - I mean come on already.

Hawk wrote:

Speed is not the issue for the most part. If you keep a consistent speed you are good to go. Hitting the breaks and changing lanes abruptly is what get's you in trouble. It has been my experience that people in the fast lane going 20 and not getting out of the way for faster moving vehicles causes more accidents. Now I think 70 is a bit much in snowy conditions but 50 or 55 is no problem.

Good point. Its clear also that after braking and starting to spin, people panic, then over-correct and as soon as the top heavy SUV hits the edge of the embankment that they roll over or land on the roof. Nevertheless, ive seen about a dozen on the roof, or side, this year. I dont see that type of accident nearly as often in NH and so I assume that the Vermont roadway with the big deep medians is part of the problem that causes the rollover vs. just going off the roadway and needing to be pulled out. Im sure the Vermont residents not agree with my observation and think its the typical yahoo Mass/NY/CT SUV driver (probably true since those are the predominant vehicles on the highways on the weekends).

I drive the interstate from Burlington to White River area all the time Subaru with four snows. I always slow down when I see the black ice. It's all about speed. If you take a look at the truckers off the road, 80% of those are canadian drivers. There is not a lot of snow left along the interstate to hold the vehicles from rolling. I heard from someone from Burlington that Saturday morning was a nightmare getting to the mountain too. Quick snow and everything iced up quickly. I counted 11 spots that I could see where cars went off between Waterbury and Burlington.

Moved to Misc.