If there were one place that most everyone in Shepherdsville would likely agree to be the worst place to be involved in an accident, it may the interstate.
High volume of traffic on interstate roads lead to an increased rate of car accidents
On city roads, traffic is usually traveling at a slow enough pace so as to easily avoid a collision site.
Interstates, on the other hand, tend to have high traffic volumes with nowhere else to go.
Indeed, information shared by the U.S. Department of Transportation shows that drivers traveled a collective 13.3 billion miles on Kentucky’s interstates in 2011.
Such high volumes of traffic can make an interstate an extremely dangerous place to be both before and immediately after an accident.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration fatality data shared by the Daily Beast shows two Kentucky corridors ranking among the 100 most deadly sections of interstate in the U.S., with I-65 coming in at #37.
What should you do if you’re in a car accident on the interstate?
After an accident, one’s first impulse is to exit his or her vehicle to inspect whatever damage is done. Traffic safety experts caution against ever doing this on an interstate.
Instead, one should signal to the other driver involved to get off the freeway (or at least as far off onto the shoulder as possible) before stopping and exchanging information.
If one’s vehicle is inoperable, he or she should stay within it (with his or her seatbelt buckled) until first responders arrive.
If one sees a small obstacle ahead on the freeway, it is actually recommended that he or she let up on the vehicle accelerator and hit it rather than swerve to avoid it.
The logic behind this is that it is better to sustain minor damage to a vehicle (which insurance may often pay for) rather than endanger surrounding vehicles by trying to avoid striking a box, tree branch, or other small debris.