Your Holiday Driving Guide: Where You Need to Use the Most Caution in San Angelo

Driver safety has been a concern since the skies turned grey and the temperatures dropped last Thursday, with over 40 accidents occurring on slick San Angelo streets over the weekend alone. Of these accidents, several involved rollovers, few included minor injuries, and two deaths were reported on Highway 277.

With the bad weather and black ice, drivers have enough to worry about; but bad weather here or there, the proliferation of traffic accidents is only expected to rise till the beginning of January, and that in some places more than others.

Over the weekend, it was the Loop that law enforcement was warning about, with several accidents occurring within minutes of one another on various stretches of 306. But San Angelo Police Department Traffic Division Supervisor Sergeant Korby Kennedy advises that the most dangerous places over the next several weeks will be the areas surrounding major shopping centers. 

“The 600 block of west 29th and the 5500 block of west Sherwood Way are always our top two [areas for accidents],” says Kennedy, “and that’s right around the Walmarts.”

The reason for the rise is simple: more people are getting out doing holiday shopping, meeting with friends and family and hosting more parties. Increased traffic means increased traffic incidents, but Kennedy suggests there is also another factor at play.

“I think that we’ve seen just a lot more traffic in town over the last year, year-and-a-half,” he says, adding that the year-round numbers have increased since 2011 by approximately 8-9 percent. “We’ve got more hotels coming in, we’ve got more oil field traffic…”

The numbers from last November are quite telling of an increased population. In 2012, there was a total of 264 accidents reported in November, an increase of 17 percent over the rest of the year. The number, Kennedy says, is alarmingly high, as it is about 20 percent more than November 2011.

As of Nov. 20 this year, only 159 accidents had been reported, thus indicating a decrease from last year. Unfortunately, the icy state of the weekend roads may have caught that number up a bit to the previous totals, but projections last week were still optimistic.

“While the projections show a decrease for the month, we have seen around a 10 percent increase monthly this year, and that seems to remain quite steady,” Kennedy says. “In December 2012 there were 237 accidents reported which is about 14% above the monthly averages. It is no secret that we have more cars out during this time of year and drivers need to keenly aware of what is going on around them.”

Accidents involving alcohol as a contributing factor are also anticipated to rise this time of year, generally only by 2-4 percent. Kennedy says, “with holiday parties and such, they always go up this time of year, but overall, it doesn’t go up by much. More times than not, if it’s a fatality crash, more often than not it’s involving alcohol.”

Even with the parties and festive moods, Kennedy says the causes of wrecks are pretty consistent, and are linked to driver inattention. “Fail to control speed and fail to yield right of way are probably our two most consistent contributing factors,” he says, adding that the best advice he can give is simple: “Slow down, take your time, pay attention,” he says.

For those driving longer distances to be with family and friends, Karen Threlkeld, Public Information Officer for the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) in San Angelo, advises checking weather conditions and driving to that condition.

“Even if there is a posted speed limit but you have bad weather or you have additional traffic that’s preventing you from driving that fast, slow down and drive to the conditions,” Threlkeld says.

Threlkeld also mentions that increased traffic in certain areas has inevitably made some roads more risky than others.

Arguably one of the most dangerous roads heading away from San Angelo is highway 158 towards Midland, where increased traffic and a one-lane stretch make for dangerous driving conditions and bouts of road rage.

“Fatigued driving is another problem that we see in that area,” Threlkeld says, mentioning oil field workers who work long shifts then drive home. Big trucks and extensive traffic has meant that not only has the number of accidents shot up, but that construction is now underway to widen the road. The speed limit in the construction zone drops, so motorists need to be mindful of this decrease as well.

Additionally, “[Motorists should be careful on] 67 heading south of town through Knickerbocker, Mertzon and Barnhart. Barnhart is seeing a tremendous increase in traffic because of the same reasons, the oil field has really taken off in that area. Anybody heading south toward the Interstate should allow extra time and use caution in those areas too, so that would include U.S. 83 and U.S.67,” Threlkeld says.

On the whole, TXDOT and the SAPD advise paying attention and driving patiently to avoid incident this season, and warn drivers not to drink and drive or text and drive.

It’s not illegal to drive and text in Texas. “While it’s not illegal to do it, if you are involved in a crash or if you are cited for a moving violation, and the officer can prove that you were on the cell phone either talking or texting, it could add a surcharge to the fine,” Kennedy says.