I picked up a load in Chicago on friday, and headed out for Oklahoma. The weather looked pretty nasty with ice and snow across Missouri and on down into Oklahoma, so I stopped near St. Louis for the night to let the weather go on through.
By the time I started out around lunchtime, the roads had been cleared off, and traffic was moving at normal speeds. Driving along I-44 I was glad that I’d sat it out. There were still a number of cars and a couple of semi trucks off in the ditches and the median. Pretty normal for the aftermath of nasty weather.
Then, I noticed something that I’d never really paid much attention to. Every vehicle I noticed (including one semi) that was in the median had engaged a cable barrier. Not a single vehicle that I saw had crossed into oncoming traffic. Then, paying a bit more attention, it seems that most of I-44 (at least from where I started paying attention to it) in Missouri had cable barriers in the median. Without those barriers, any one of those wrecks could have very easily gone from minor incident to major tragedy.
Good thinking and actions should be rewarded. So, I got out my crayons, and I’m instituting the Truckie-D Gold Star Safety Awards. The first recipient is the Missouri Department of Transportation for their good sense in putting cable barriers along I-44.
Comments and questions welcome.
Update – 02-02-2010
Thanks to Steve Foster for pointing out the story behind the cable barriers in Missouri. I still think MODOT deserves the award, but I also think that Roger Mauzy also deserves one. I found a good summary of the story behind the cable barriers in Missouri at: http://www.atssa.com/galleries/default-file/Missouri_Barriers.pdf
So, here’s to ya Roger Mauzy:
Comments and questions welcome.
2 Comments
Steve Foster
MODOT actually was unwilling to install these barriers for years. It was the tireless campaign by Warren County Coroner Roger Mauzy that finally pressured MODOT into installing them on I-70. Mr. Mauzy had to officiate at the scene of a horrific crossover accident in October 1999 that resulted in the gruesome deaths of all members of a family in a minivan. He made it his mission in life to pressure lawmakers until the barricades were installed in his county - and they were such a success that they were implemented throughout the state. So the true recipient of the reward should be Mr. Mauzy.
JD
Steve, MoDOT didnt refuse, they just didnt have the money for it. They do now and they are rolling out the guard cable all over the state.
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