In upstate New York, especially northern New York, much of our driving is on rural two-lane roads with maximum speed limits of 55 mph. With much less traffic than in urban driving, you might think rural driving would be safer, with fewer collisions. A Google search on this question finds ...

Last week’s column described what highway departments must consider where snowstorms are an annual event. In this article, we deal with the pluses and minuses of using sand versus salt to treat roads covered with snow and ice. A large number of chemicals and other treatments are used for ...

With winter conditions rapidly approaching, snow and ice control on our streets and highways becomes a priority for highway crews. Decades ago, roads were seldom plowed until morning and almost never sanded or salted. Today, however, with our very mobile society, we expect bare roads throughout ...

In 2023, the latest year for available statistics, 40,901 people died on highways in the U.S. A shocking 59% of these fatalities had alcohol and/or speeding as contributing to the cause of the deaths, according to a study by the law firm of John Foy and Associates of Atlanta, Georgia. When you ...

If you are a reader of these weekly articles on vehicle and traffic laws and traffic safety, you are aware of the many times the subject of speed cameras for enforcement has been discussed. This week’s article is yet another one. Speed cameras are being used more and more where school ...

Nearly 10 years ago, something new — the “zipper merge” — was discussed in a “Safety on the Roads” column. Over the summer, the state Department of Transportation has implemented a zipper merge on I-490 in Rochester, where new bridges are being constructed over the Erie Canal and ...