On Thursday morning, May 14, I looked forward to a full day of conference calls with members of the Iowa congressional delegation. I also looked forward to running a few personal/family errands in between the calls. I was on my way home from one such errand on the west side of Cedar Rapids, when the day that I’d planned drastically changed.
I was traveling in the far right lane of 1st Ave SW, a four-lane roadway with a center turn lane, and headed toward downtown when I saw two traffic cones blocking my lane. There had been no warning that the lane was going to close — no signs, no lighted arrows pointing motorists to the adjacent lane.
I turned on my blinker, but couldn’t merge because of traffic. So, I stopped and began to wait for traffic to clear.
The next thing I felt was my vehicle being hit from behind. It was not just tapped by another car, mind you, it was hit hard. The various things littering my dashboard — pens, a book, phone charger — were sent flying and my sun roof was knocked open.
I sat in the vehicle rather stunned for a few beats. It was all a little confusing and disorienting at first. The first thing I noticed when I began to take stock of the immediate area was a city crew working just across the street. I know it was a crew from the city because the truck had the city logo on the door. I thought they would soon cross the road to check on me and the other driver. Instead, I watched as they began to load up their equipment and prepared to leave.
I found my purse in the passenger floorboard and located my mobile phone. My first call was to emergency dispatch. When I explained what had happened — that there had been a car accident — the woman asked my condition and then asked the condition of the other driver. I exited my vehicle while remaining on the line with 911 to see if there were any injuries in the other car. When the other driver and her passenger assured me they were alright, emergency dispatch routed a police officer to the scene and the call ended.
The entire call with the dispatcher took maybe 2-3 minutes, but the city crew I had seen across the street was gone by the time it ended.
The officer arrived shortly after that and took our licenses and insurance cards. Before I left, I was given forms to complete for the city and state and a sheet of paper with the other driver’s information. At that point I told the responding officer about the city crew that had been working across the street at the time of the accident and about their speedy departure following the crash. His response was a “you’ve got to be kidding” type of shrug and head shaking.
When I checked with insurance I also made a point of telling them about the city crew, the lack of notice to motorists regarding the lane closing, and my dismay. At the emergency room I repeated the information there.
During the past few days, as I’ve described what happened to friends, their mouths fall open. They say, “I saw that!” Then they proceed to tell me about several places along 1st Avenue that had cones placed around what appeared to be fresh paint on road markings. The lane closures, they tell me, came with no prior warnings to motorists, and that they also came close to being involved in traffic accidents at those sites.
From my own legal and insurance standpoint, I’ve been told that all of this matters very little. I stopped for the cones and was struck from behind by another motorist. As such, the other motorist is at fault. Still, it seems to me that if I and the other motorist had been given warning about the lane closure, we would have had an opportunity to avoid the accident.
I’ve included all of this in my written report to IDOT and the City of Cedar Rapids. I also attempted to phone IDOT to find out what laws or policies govern signage of lane closures, and if such policies vary depending on which agency (state, local municipality, etc.) initiates the lane closure or if the road itself and its existing speed limits dictate how lane closures are handled. The person that I was referred to is out of the office for several days, so I’ve not received an answer.
nice article… one should be attentive while driving.