An automobile accident can happen in an instant.
Junior Erin Blackburn described how quickly her accident last May happened.
“I was going into a turn, and I just looked away for a second,” she said. “I wasn’t messing with my CDs or phone or anything, I just looked out across the field. I just looked away for a second. The turn was really narrow, and I had practically no shoulder. I had been headed west, but my car ended up facing east.”
Blackburn said she was headed home during finals week when the single-vehicle accident occurred.
“I was going home for my brother’s graduation, and I totaled my car on Highway 156,” she said. “They said I rolled my car 1 1/2 times.”
The car landed upside down, and Blackburn climbed out of a broken window.
She said an older couple headed in her direction had seen the accident from a distance and stopped to assist her.
“I wasn’t really scared until I saw the look on the faces of those who pulled over when they saw me,” she said. “They were pulling over as I crawled out of my car. They stayed with me until the cops came.”
Blackburn said she was glad she was wearing her seat belt.
“When the ambulance got there, they made me get in the back and checked me out,” she said. “They said my pulse was a little fast, but I had no scratches or bruises or anything.”
In the two weeks after the single-vehicle accident that fatally injured Baker University junior Molly Larson Sept.. 3, there were two more traffic accidents on the roads around Baldwin City.
Tyrone T. Korte, 30, of Seneca, and Rolland “Ron” Griffith, 24, of El Dorado, were killed in a hit-and-run Sept. 11, in the construction zone on U.S. Highway 59 at the southern edge of Pleasant Grove. Kayla Knoll, a 17-year-old Baldwin City girl was involved in a single-vehicle, rollover accident Saturday morning on U.S. Highway 56. She was transported by air ambulance to the University of Kansas Hospital and was listed in stable condition.
Three automobile accidents in two weeks seems like a lot to those in the Baldwin City community, but Kim Qualls, public affairs manager for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said the number is not unusually high. However, some accidents could be preventable.
According to the KDOT’s Kansas Traffic Accident Facts, in 2006, 16 of the top 20 contributing factors for automobile accidents were driver related. The top five factors were: inattention, failure to yield right of way, animals, driving too fast for conditions and following too closely.
Lt. Art Wilburn, of the Kansas Highway Patrol, said he agreed with the statistics.
“In my experience, the majority of accidents are caused by inattention,” he said. “People are distracted and not paying attention. The main thing people really need to do is have time and attention focused on what you’re doing and on what other people are doing. Watch everyone.”
Wilburn explained what to do for anyone involved in a traffic accident. The first thing to do is stop and check for injuries, then call the police. He said addresses and insurance information must be exchanged for any multi-vehicle accident.
“Don’t let someone offer to pay you off,” Wilburn said. “Get information off of their insurance card or license directly. Don’t let them just tell it to you. It is the duty of all drivers to report all accidents whether they involve injury or property damage.”
He also had words of wisdom for those who tend to have a lead foot while driving, saying that you can be pulled over at any speed over the limit.
“Going ten miles over the speed limit is a $30 fine,” he said. “Then it goes up $6 per mph over that until you reach 20 mph over the speed limit. Then it is $9 per mile. At 30 mph over the speed limit, it goes to $30 per mph you are over the limit.”
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol’s Web site, traffic infractions are set uniformly by the Kansas Legislature, and rules of the road apply at all times, even when passing someone.
Wilburn also talked about failure to yield statutes.
“There are several failure to yield statutes. Failure to stop at an intersection is a $60 fine,” he said. “Plus, the typical court cost for most things traffic related is $66.”
Even though her accident was not in the Baldwin City area, Blackburn said she feels there are sections of Highway 59 that are unsafe.
“I really hate the turn on Highway 59 where the two lanes merge as you go into the turn,” she said. “It’s not smart planning.”
Another problem area on Highway 59 has been the junction at Highway 56. A four-way stop was placed there during the 2006-2007 school year.
Qualls said the intersection was probably turned into a four-way stop at the request of KDOT or Douglas County.
“What happens is there will be a request, and we’ll do a traffic study,” she said. “They decide out of that study what corrective action needs to be done.”