How are accidents handled in your area?

[jeffandnicole]

So...I know this is going to be more opinion than anything unless you are a cop or EMT, but...

How are accidents handled in your area.  Specifically, do they keep the accident as is and make everyone go around, detour the traffic away from the scene, or try to get the accident off the roadway.  I know some areas have "Fender Bender? Move Vehicles to Shoulder" type signage.

Here in NJ, we generally appear to be a state where they try to keep the travel lanes open as much as possible.  If the car can be moved, it should be moved to the shoulder or out of the travel lane.  Unless it's a major accident, the 'investigation' tends to be pretty quick, and the insurance companies deal with what they need to deal with later to figure out what happened and who pays what.

Today, at this location, https://goo.gl/maps/NhyJAs6pAe52 , there was an accident in the left lane.  As I passed by the first time, they were moving the vehicles up on top of the concrete median curbing (including one car whose front bumper was falling off) in order to keep the travel lanes open.  When I drove past again a half hour later, they were still up there.

[hbelkins]

I think we may have had a discussion about this before, but I don't remember. I know there have been internal discussions on Kentucky's "quick clearance" law within various state agencies.

insurance companies still instruct policyholders not to move their vehicles until law enforcement can write up a report. State law, on its face, requires the vehicles to be moved if they can be driven before police can get there. The two seem to be incompatible. I'm waiting, but have not heard, about an insurance claim being denied because of compliance with the law. I'm sure there will be a lawsuit when or if that happens.

[1995hoo]

Around here they ask people to move the vehicles if possible unless someone is injured. Compliance varies. In my totally unscientific observation, older people are less likely to move (probably because the rule used to be not to move until a cop said so).

[Jardine]

Depends on whether or not the deer carcass lands back on the highway.

[SignBridge]

Maryland has the right idea with their signs. Common sense would dictate that if your car is drivable, you should make a reasonable effort to move it out of the roadway onto a shoulder or other safe area. Ya' don't want to block traffic or risk getting hit by passing vehicles if you don't have to. I'm sure that's what most police would want you to do. Their priority is to keep traffic moving and avoid secondary accidents.  The police don't need to see the accident as it happened. They will do their report based on driver and witness accounts.

[Brian556]

Around here, they typically leave the vehicles in place, and just fuck over all the other drivers. Also, they often block off way more than is necessary, adding to congestion. Certain police departments around here are way worse about this than others. Flower Mound has to be the worst.

[6a]

Around here they move you off the road as soon as possible. In addition, I believe there are incentives for towing companies to clear freeway lanes quickly.

[slorydn1]

In NC you must move your vehicle out of the roadway if it is able to be driven, unless there is a serious injury involved. That was passed as part of the larger "move over" law protecting emergency vehicles several years ago.

Don't worry, all of your effort to keep the travel lanes clear will soon be foiled by the fire dept as soon as they arrive and shut down 2 or 3 lanes just for your car(s) sitting on the shoulder. In my town they just love to park a pumper or ladder truck sideways across the road. In their defense this is because we have had fire fighters injured by idiots who can't slow down through the wreck scene, so now they go overboard to make sure no one get get through at anything faster than a crawl. I guess its understandable. Irritating as hell but understandable.

Now if there is a major wreck with a serious injury/fatality you can probably expect to see the entire road shut down in both directions for 4-6 hours while they go over every nook and cranny of every vehicle that was involved. Nothing budges until a reconstruction team can arrive on scene. The local PD can do that relatively quickly. If it's out in the county, the trooper working the wreck will call in their team and they can be coming from as far as 50-60 miles away.

[hbelkins]

FHWA is mandating incident management training for first responders (fire personnel, LEOs and DOT personnel) that stresses closing only the lanes that are absolutely necessary to be closed for the safety of all concerned while still keeping traffic flowing. I've had the training.

Anyone ever experience or hear of turf wars between agencies involving closing lanes or roads? It's happened in Kentucky before, where fire departments have gotten mad because roads were left open when wrecks were being worked or investigated.

[slorydn1]

Anyone ever experience or hear of turf wars between agencies involving closing lanes or roads?

I can't say I've ever witnessed an all out turf war over that, although I can clearly remember times from my volunteer FF/EMS days where the highway patrol would send us packing as soon as they got there because we were "tying up THEIR highway". We always complied and left asap,provided we were done doing what we needed to do with patient care (etc).


Thing was, we always blocked as little as we could back then. If the vehicles were on the shoulder or in the median we were on the shoulder or in the median. Now-a days if you have two cars in the ditch on the right of a 4 lane highway they block the shoulder AND the right lane, and then put out those plastic speed bumps in the left lane which forces drivers down to 10 mph or so. Really great on a 70 mph freeway like US-70.

[allniter89]

Around here it's move vehicles from the travel if possible. The county Sheriffs Dept "babysits" the accident site until FHP arrives. FHP does the investigating & paperwork.

[jwolfer]

Around here it's move vehicles from the travel if possible. The county Sheriffs Dept "babysits" the accident site until FHP arrives. FHP does the investigating & paperwork.

If depends on who is there first.. Although if a sheriff's patrol carnis involved FHP will investigate

[SD Mapman]

Depends on whether or not the deer carcass lands back on the highway.

Ha!

But all the same, usually the accidents don't move until everything has been cleaned up... this is the only way we get traffic jams in this part of the world.

[peterj920]

Wisconsin is building more Accident Investigation Sites along off ramps of rebuilt freeways in urban areas.  Drivers involved in an accident are supposed to drive there if they can to be out of the way of traffic.  There is also a Freeway Service Team that patrols the Milwaukee Metro area along with I-41 in Green Bay and Wis 441 in Appleton, which are currently under construction.  The service teams are supposed to assist disabled vehicles and move them out of the way so traffic can continue to flow whether it's due to an accident or a breakdown.