Over the weekend, a fatal collision involving multiple vehicles and tractor-trailers occurred west of Phoenix, Arizona on the eastbound I-10, in the middle of a dust storm. Four people died and eight more were injured in the accident. AZ Central reports:
Investigators believe there was an initial crash, followed by one or more secondary collisions, which resulted in additional injuries and deaths.
The freeway crash involved six commercial motor vehicles, four passenger vehicles, a van, and a recreational vehicle towing a trailer, officials said.
There were four confirmed deaths, two people in critical condition, one person admitted for care and precautionary treatment, and five more people who were treated and released from Valley hospitals.
While it's not certain that lack of visibility due to the dust storm was the cause of accident, it surely played a large role, but officials are currently investigating the connection. If it does turn out to be a factor, it wouldn't be the first time that dust storms, and the lack of visibility and panic they create, have caused vehicle accidents and fatalities. Data from the United States National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show that there are 14 to 32 deaths every year as a result of dust storms. NOAA explains:
Dust storms can panic unprepared drivers, blocking all visibility behind and in front of a car, and cause people to become disoriented or slam into unseen obstacles. Dust on the pavement can also cause vehicles to lose traction and spin out of control.
I can confirm how absolutely frightening it is to drive through a dust storm. I encountered my first (and hopefully last!) one on a drive back from California to Phoenix last year, and it was honestly the scariest event I've ever encountered on the road. I'm thankful to have made it back home safely.
If you ever find yourself in a dust storm, here are some tips, compiled by the Arizona Department of Transportation as part of its "Pull Aside Stay Alive" campaign, to keep you safe:
- Immediately check traffic around your vehicle (front, back and to the side) and begin slowing down.
- Do not wait until poor visibility makes it difficult to safely pull off the roadway — do it as soon as possible. Completely exit the highway if you can.
- Do not stop in a travel lane or in the emergency lane. Look for a safe place to pull completely off the paved portion of the roadway.
- Turn off all vehicle lights, including your emergency flashers. You do not want other vehicles approaching from behind to use your lights as a guide, possibly crashing into your parked vehicle.
- Set your emergency brake and take your foot off the brake.
- Stay in the vehicle with your seatbelts buckled and wait for the storm to pass.
- Drivers of high-profile vehicles should be especially aware of changing weather conditions and travel at reduced speeds.
And if you want to know more about why you should turn off all vehicle lights when you pull over and get off the road, here's an engrossing article about the "moth effect," which posits that drivers might fixate or concentrate on flashing lights and inadvertently steer toward them or other objects they are actually trying to avoid. In the article, Marc Green, who has a PhD in experimental psychology and expertise in vision and perception, and human factors in transportation, presents findings from a literature review he conducted on the controversial idea, which some dismiss as myth but others find solid evidence for. He concludes:
The "moth effect" is a myth in one sense and reality in another. The idea that drivers may steer off the road when they fixate flashing lights is likely correct, but they are not drawn to the lights like moths to a flame. Rather, they inadvertently steer rightward, which may or may not take them into collision with the roadside vehicle. Even normal, alert drivers in daylight conditions may steer in the direction of eye position during periods of intense fixation, although factors reducing attentional capacity increase the probability. The cause is likely error in judging heading under eccentric fixation when optic flow cues are minimal and when attentional focus prevents sensing of the need to correct the error. Although bright lights and fascination are not required, of course, it is impossible to rule out these factors in some accidents.
Be safe out there on the roads, friends!
