Several factors cause pile-up

Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by DARWIN WEIGEL Six cars were involved in a pile-up late Saturday morning in Prince Frederick in the north bound lane on Route 2/4. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

It's not the Capital Beltway, but Prince Frederick saw a six-car pile-up late Saturday morning on Route 4 just north of Traskers Boulevard.

The driver of the fifth vehicle in the pile-up was faulted after it hit three vehicles that slowed down to avoid a collision when the first vehicle stopped in the roadway after the driver missed turning onto Traskers Boulevard, according to the accident report. The sixth vehicle hit the fifth vehicle as a result of the collision.

Stephanie S. Pickett of Sunderland was issued a citation for failure to control speed to avoid a collision. No one required medical attention after the accident, but Pickett's vehicle, along with two other vehicles, was towed from the scene, the report stated.

"The corridor through Prince Frederick is our most inattentive driving crash area," said Debbie Jennings, coordinator for Calvert County Traffic Safety Council. It's easier to have a rear collision in congested areas, she said.

"Nearly half of Calvert County's inattentive driver crashes result in injuries," stated Jennings in an e-mail. "In addition, 40 percent of Calvert's inattentive driver crashes involve a rear end collision."

Roughly 10 percent of all crashes in the county list not paying attention as the primary contributing circumstance with the county averaging 117 inattentive driving crashes each year, she wrote.

Following too closely and stopping in a lane were contributing factors mentioned for all the vehicles involved in Saturday's accident, with an additional failure to give full attention cited for Pickett.

There are so many distractions with cell phones, GPSs and radios, said First Sgt. Todd Ireland, assistant patrol commander, who urged drivers to pay attention.

"[People] don't realize how long they are looking away," he said.

Both Jennings and Ireland could not recall a pileup in recent history with that many vehicles involved.

Failure to yield causes the most crashes in the county, he said, adding that stopping in the roadway, unless it's in a neighborhood, is also a cause for a citation.

However, Ireland said that he was not familiar with Saturday's accident, in which the first vehicle was not given a traffic citation for stopping on Route 4.