by SARAH THOMACK
St. Joseph Post
The Missouri Department of Transportation has seen a 100% increase in TMA crashes this year.
MoDOT's Northwest District Engineer Chris Redline says TMAs are Truck-Mounted Attenuators, also known as crash cushions - the first thing you see driving up on a work zone.
“Essentially has big old shock absorbers on the back so if somebody isn’t paying attention, and crashes in the back of us, the injuries are much less severe or may even have no injuries,” Redline says. “They have arrows on them… and they’re lit up really bright so it’s really impossible to miss, but unfortunately we’ve had 39 hit already this year and some of those crashes have been pretty bad.”
Redline says last year at this time, 19 TMAs were hit by drivers. Redline adds that one of the keys to driver safety, whether in a work zone or not, is to put the phone down while driving.
“If you take your eyes away from the road for just a couple seconds, you’ve traveled an incredible distance already at 60 or 70 miles an hour,” Redline says. “Just pay attention, look out for what’s going on because those people that are driving those TMA trucks, they have families and friends just like everybody else in Missouri and they want to go home in one piece.”
According to MoDOT, since 2014, cell phone related crashes in Missouri have increased by 35-percent.
For information about the MoDOT Buckle Up Phone Down Challenge and area road information, visit modot.org/northwest.