AA Death-Trap Strikes Again

[leatherneck]

While I generally avoid the AA and travel Rt. 8 when I go to and fro my farm in Bracken County, I've been up and down it more than a few times. In my opinion the accidents are caused by a combination of excessive speeds and simple carelessness by people pulling onto it from the side roads from close to a dead stop. Between Wilder and the Augusta turn off (Rt 19) I can only think of one side road that doesn't have plenty of visability to see the oncoming traffic. The Poplar Ridge intersection visibility isn't that bad from what I recall. The comments about the excessive speed are spot on and its not just the truckers whom fly on it. I don't have design problems with the road personally; it just requires a little special attention if you are pulling onto it from a side road and a little common sense.

[ladiesbballcoach]

People do speed on the AA. I travel it often - not daily, but often, and set the cruise at 59MPH. I get passed by a lot of folks. And it may very well be that speeding is the cause of this particular accident - too early to tell.

 

However, the AA was designed poorly from the start. More specifically, access to the highway from side roads. Many times when approaching the AA, there's a rise, and you're at the AA before you know it. The problem is magnified in the dark and even more so in the fog.

 

The rumble strips in the center and on the shoulders were a good idea; probably helps for people being careless of dozing off. But the biggest problems with the AA are at the intersections.

Agree that the intersections are a huge problem.

 

I do the same thing with cruise control because it is so easy on that road to do much more than the speed limit.

[Freebird23]

I travel the AA quite often to get to business contacts in Maysville, Portsmouth and Ashland. I tried counting the crosses on the side of the road from Campbell County all the way down towards Grayson. It's flat out scary to think that many, and probably a lot more, have lost their lives on that road.

 

I do not speed on the AA. It seems that every trip I make on the AA the State Police is going the opposite direction w/ radar. IMO, the intersection fatalities are probably the leading cause of deaths on the AA. In the US, 30% of all accidents take place at intersections. 40% of fatalities are at intersections. Type of intersection accident: T-bone. Most vulneralbe part of the car being struck - the side.

 

I wouldn't think route 8 is any safer. Per car volume, I am thinking the ratio of car traffic to car fatality may be very close. Very little escape route on 8, you have the drink (Ohio River) on one side and developed trees about 9' on the other side. Besides, you have to watch out for all those river camps along the Ohio on the weekends. Party goers and trains pulling out in front of you! Eh.. skip the trains comment. We pull in front of trains...

 

L-neck, be careful in your travels on the 8. Mrs L-neck would be quite upset if you dinged that red man machine.

[Poster Boy]

I can't buy the theory that it's all about speed and carelessness. If that were the cause, there would be daily accidents on every road in the country. Do people suddenly become more careless on this road? Do they suddenly lose all control of themselves. Of course not. It's the design of the highway that is clearly the problem.

 

Perhaps some of the accidents were caused by careless driving. If so, there must be some element of this design that is predisposing people to such behavior, and creating a condition that makes their reckless behavior much more likely to result in catastrophe.

 

Playing with matches is careless. But if a puddle of gas is present, the negative consequences will be both more likely, and more tragic.

[mcpapa]

Did I just hear on the news that a truck ran the red light at the intersection in this particular accident?

[gametime]

Did I just hear on the news that a truck ran the red light at the intersection in this particular accident?

I heard the same...

[MBWC41]

I took the AA from Ashland to Cincinnati every other weekend for a year. I never once came close to wrecking or witnessed someone else wreck. In my opinion the road is fine. I prefer the double a over any other route to cincy. It's not the road, it's the people behind the wheel driving on the road that are causing the problems. I'm sure there are roads like this all across the country. If people would be more cautious while driving terrible accidents like this wouldnt happen as often.

 

Very sad news. My prayers go out to those involved.

[Lucky Charms]

I took the AA from Ashland to Cincinnati every other weekend for a year. I never once came close to wrecking or witnessed someone else wreck. In my opinion the road is fine. I prefer the double a over any other route to cincy. It's not the road, it's the people behind the wheel driving on the road that are causing the problems. I'm sure there are roads like this all across the country. If people would be more cautious while driving terrible accidents like this wouldnt happen as often.

 

Very sad news. My prayers go out to those involved.

The same could be said for the "cut in the hill" on I-75 near Cincinnati. It's terrible road design.

 

The Double A DieWay leaves no room for error in some cases. Exits would help a ton. If you actually drive it enough, you'll know what I mean. It's a bad setup (meaning that it is setup for human error). It needs a change.

[striker]

Did I just hear on the news that a truck ran the red light at the intersection in this particular accident?

My girlfriend saw the accident and she told me the semi ran right through the red light. This happens quite often at this intersection...

[PutMeInCoach]

Can you not see the light very well or something?

[Automatic]

Can you not see the light very well or something?

 

 

The light is very clear from the AA IMO, and I don't like to single out truck drivers, but I see them run it all the time. The light is by a hill, so many times they don't want to brake when going down the hill, or as they are gaining speed don't want to stop then start again.

 

I know everyone has similar stories for any road, but I distinctly remember one time I was a passenger with my father stopped at a red light to cross the AA. For some reason we were too interested in a conversation to notice that the light had changed green. By the time we noticed my dad checked both ways to be sure and a semi was speeding across the intersection. By the time the truck had cleared the light had already turned red again.

 

As well as worrying about any vehicle running the red light, Poplar Ridge coming down toward the AA comes at a bend, so you can see if you have a green light, but unless you slow down to basically a stop, you can't tell if a car is approaching the light fast at all. Added to the fact that it is a quick light so many drivers don't slow down when approaching a red light, it is a dangerous intersection.

[dirk80]

Can you not see the light very well or something?

 

 

They have installed warning lights for that reason. I have seen cars speed up when the lights start flashing so that they can beat the red light and try to skim past under the yellow light. I have travelled the AA since it opened every day of the week and love it. It is nice to set the cruise and drive on a road that isn't a two lane with bad curves and dips like Rt 8.

[mexitucky]

While I generally avoid the AA and travel Rt. 8 when I go to and fro my farm in Bracken County, I've been up and down it more than a few times. In my opinion the accidents are caused by a combination of excessive speeds and simple carelessness by people pulling onto it from the side roads from close to a dead stop. Between Wilder and the Augusta turn off (Rt 19) I can only think of one side road that doesn't have plenty of visability to see the oncoming traffic. The Poplar Ridge intersection visibility isn't that bad from what I recall. The comments about the excessive speed are spot on and its not just the truckers whom fly on it. I don't have design problems with the road personally; it just requires a little special attention if you are pulling onto it from a side road and a little common sense.

 

They need to make Poplar Ridge a "No turn on Red." It would not have helped in this case as apparently someone ran a red light, but it could help future accidents by preventing the pulling on from a dead stop. The problem with AA, to sum up with what people have been saying, is careless drivers trying to get somewhere 10 minutes early.

[HHSDad]

Would delayed traffic lights help? I'm talking about the ones where when one light turns red, several seconds go by before the other light turns green.

 

Also, if the light is getting ran so much, why isn't a trooper sitting there waiting for trucks to blow through? You write enough tickets and word will get out not to run that light.

 

BTW, there were no fatalities in this wreck...yet. Two people are in critical condition. The crane involved was just trying to get out of the way of the semi and ended up overturned in the ditch.

[The Red Rambler]

I like the Double A. When I lived in Cincinnati I traveled it at least every other weekend. My only complaint was getting stuck behind trucks going through Lewis County where there are literally only two places to pass and only one long straight stretch with enough visibility to pass. But for those of us in the Ashland Area it's still the fastest way to get to that end of Cincinnati. If I was going to the Eastgate area or King's Island though I would probably take 23 to Route 32 since it is four lanes all the way and comes right into to Batavia and 275.

 

I have seen three bad wrecks on the Double A and all were the result on someone trying to pass getting hit by oncoming traffic. I have yet to see accident on the four lane portion of the road. All three were on the two lane section between Maysville and where it goes to four lanes just outside of Alexandria.

 

My prayers go out to the family. According to the story the Dad was in Wisconsin training to be deployed to Iraq.

 

http://news.nky.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/AB/20070725/NEWS0103/707250394