Even though it has been five years, the image still replays in Bert Jameson’s mind again and again.
“I looked up. An 18-wheeler slammed right into our second crash unit,” Jameson said. “It’s like the scene out of a movie. All I can remember at that time is that I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t talk. I was in shock.”
Jameson is a maintainer for the Connecticut Department of Transportation, something he has done for 20 years. He said he was working on I-84, drilling holes with traffic delineators in the ground per protocol.
“Even when you’re doing everything right, it can still go wrong. I still have dreams about that,” Jameson said.
Inattentive or impaired drivers ignoring slow down move over laws is a problem first responders are practically begging the public to better observe.
CTDOT Deputy Director Laoise King said crews and contractors are being hit on a near daily basis by drivers not following the slow down, move over law.
According to the state’s Office of Highway Safety: “The law states that drivers approaching vehicles on the shoulder or in a breakdown lane must immediately reduce their speed to a reasonable level. If on a multi-laned roadway, the driver must also move over one lane if it’s reasonable or safe to do so.”
“This is not a suggestion. It is the law,” Col. Daniel Loughman, of the Connecticut State Police, said at a press conference Monday. “And we will be enforcing it.”
Loughman said state police are “increasing visibility of the enforcement of the move over law violations” this week.
Sunday morning, Westport firefighters were protecting a single-vehicle accident on I-95. “A tow truck responding to the initial incident was struck at high speed by an SUV towing a trailer, causing significant damage to both vehicles,” the department wrote on Facebook. “Fortunately, all occupants from both the SUV and the tow truck were able to exit their vehicles, and no serious injuries were reported at the scene.”
CT Fire Police Association president John Lyon said the number of drivers passing crash sites distracted is continuously increasing. “The biggest culprit is being on their phones and videotaping,” Lyon said.
He explained he often will see drivers moving by with one hand on the steering wheel and the other hand videotaping the crash for social media on their phone.
Dave Fultz, manager of heavy-duty equipment for Nelcon Towing & Recovery, said he has seen the same. “There’s been quite a few instances where some of us have been clipped by mirrors with cars driving by because they’re videoing as they’re trying to drive, and all of a sudden you have a mirror in the side of you,” Fultz said. “It’s unsettling.” “People have just lost humanity with each other,” Fultz said.
