Truckers urge drivers to pay attention, put down cellphones

Published 9:47 pm Saturday, March 12, 2016

Driving south along I-75 from Chattanooga or coming north along the same route into Dalton from Calhoun on a rainy day, area drivers have unfortunately become accustomed to seeing traffic coming to a halt with the flash of the brake lights ahead of them in the distance.

More blue lights. More red lights of emergency responders. Another hour sitting in traffic.

Another crash at the Rocky Face exit.

Traffic delays and sights of tractor-trailers inverted down embankments and turned on their side in the median haven’t quite become routine, but area drivers are certainly more accustomed to them.

With 204 accidents in a 13-month period during which traffic has been shifted and shuttled as state contractors have engaged in a complete redesign of the interchange, the construction zone has been a hot spot for accidents.

For many of the area’s carpet manufacturers as well as other businesses engaged in shipping products along the interstate system, traffic and trucking safety are a big concern.

“We just had a big safety meeting that was mandatory with all of our drivers, and Rocky Face was one of the major points of emphasis,” said David Brack, transportation safety manager for Shaw Industries. “To my knowledge we haven’t had any accidents at that area. I think that it has all been truckers and car drivers that have been from out of town and just weren’t familiar with the area and it kind of surprised them.”

Shaw Industries is one of the area’s biggest employers of truckers with 65 teams all across the country and 200 local drivers on the road each day. Brack said the company sends all of its drivers through extensive training, and the trucks are equipped with messaging systems to alert drivers of accident-prone spots across the country.

“We try to make sure all our drivers know to slow down to 55-60 miles an hour and stay back off any vehicle,” Brack said. “We put out messages to those trucks to remind them on a continual basis. It is just a matter of being aware and careful through all areas of construction.”

Not everyone has been so aware, but veteran truckers said it is a matter of exercising caution.

“I didn’t think that it was that bad coming through that stretch,” said Roger Whitten, a driver for Werner Enterprises in Snellville said on a recent sunny day. “But you could see where that might be a problem. People make that drive and the lane shift surprises them. With the trucks, you could have a load shift on you. It doesn’t take much to lead to a disaster.”

Dale Palwelk, a veteran driver out of Minnesota with more than four decades experience, said with cellphones and texting, inconsiderate passenger car drivers make the roads that more dangerous, especially in a construction area like Rocky Face.

“People, the way they drive today is just ridiculous,” Palwelk said. “Get off the phone and pay attention. We have safety devices on a lot of trucks where when people cut in front of us it automatically slows your truck down. Most people don’t realize that what they do affects the rest of us, and that is what leads to those chain-reaction wrecks.”

Driver error — going too fast for conditions — has been a major factor in many of the accidents. Other factors are the shifting road, the tight quarters with barriers hemming traffic in and people just not being ready for the area.

“I think it is a combination of all of that,” Brack said. “Folks that don’t come that way all the time, it is going to be a surprise to them, especially if you are going south. (The shifting lanes) do have a little catch to the right, and it will throw you into that wall. What I do every morning is slow down and get into the middle lane. Unfamiliarity to it and the construction isn’t what it needs to be are the major factors in my opinion. The northbound lane has that one severe shift, and the southbound isn’t a big one, but it is sharp to the right. It kind of catapults you to the left.”

“I drive it every day, and you have to be careful every single day.”