Interstate 35 Head-On Crash Tragically Kills Two in Clear Lake, Iowa
CLEAR LAKE, IA- Whoradio.iheart.com writes that two men died in a devastating head-on crash on Interstate 35. The incident occurred in the late morning earlier this week when a FedEx van drove onto the interstate in the wrong direction and struck a pickup truck that was traveling northbound.*
The 30-year-old man from Georgia driving the van and the 52-year-old man driving the pickup truck both died at the scene of the accident.
Reports indicate that another vehicle was involved as well, but do not state the current condition of that driver.
Head-on crashes are some of the deadliest accidents on the road. The speed of the vehicles and the forces involved in the collisions can often lead to fatalities.
Drivers often become involved in these accidents because someone drifts into oncoming traffic on an undivided roadway. A study conducted as part of a Vision Zero initiative indicated that for drivers to have a better than 50 percent chance of living through a head-on collision, they must be traveling at less than 43 miles per hour. Of course, many undivided roads have speed limits that exceed 43 miles per hour. The advice for drivers who wish to avoid being struck by another driver in a head-on collision is often to stick to divided highways where head-on crashes are less likely. Of course, when it comes to wrong-way crashes, drivers can be involved in head-on collisions at extremely high speeds.
Wrong-way drivers typically ended up traveling against the flow of traffic because they entered an interstate on an exit ramp despite the necessary signage. Road design includes plenty of warnings to try and prevent these crashes, but from time to time, a driver will make this type of serious driving error.
Accident News is a safety and education initiative from Montlick & Associates, designed to help people better understand and thereby avoid common accident causes. To learn more about our injury prevention programs, including iridesafe.com -click here. We hope you are never in an accident, but if you or family member are injured, call Montlick & Associates 24/7 for your free consultation at 1-800-LAW-NEED (1-800-529-6333) or use our live chat at Montlick.com.
Sources:https://whoradio.iheart.com/content/2019-12-12-two-dead-after-i-35-wrong-way-crash/ and https://www.thecarcrashdetective.com/how-to-survive-a-head-on-collision-slow-down-to-below-43mph/ and https://www.ntsb.gov/safety/safety-studies/Documents/SIR1201.pdf