By Richard Shapiro, Eastern Shore Injury Lawyer

Counties in the Eastern Shore including Accomack and Northampton do not boast large populations, but their accident statistics are incredibly high. In face, both counties feature a fatality rate per 100,000 individuals that is higher than the national average, according to the National Highway Safety Administration. The primary reason is one stretch of road: Route 13.

The lack of adequate medians and increased truck traffic make Route 13 a very dangerous highway. This is a volatile situation considering a large number of  Virginia (VA) Eastern Shore cities and towns are located along Route 13. 

Jim McGowan, the Accomack County planning director stressed the importance of median reform. He said many medians don’t have any turn lanes or the lane is too short to handle more than one vehicle when a turn is made, according to Delmarvanow.com. In addition, the medians are usually too narrow, so it allows vehicles to cross through the median and into the other lane of traffic along with many median crossovers being too close together.

The Route 13/Wallops Island Access Management Study recommended expanding median widths to at least 50 feet while closing roughly 70 median crossovers, adding rumble strips to road shoulders and reducing access points to Route 13 (there are currently 1,300).

Unfortunately, these suggestions have largely been ignored by county officials. The reason being money. The cost of implementing all the proposed reforms would cost over $100 million. It’s really disappointing to hear that budget concerns are superceding the safety of drivers and Eastern Shore residents. Many stretches of highway are dangerous, but few have actual studies highlighting the inherent dangers.

The representatives of both counties need to ask themselves, “What’s worse - spending money to renovate a dangerous highway and potentially decreasing the number or car wrecks or having this same highway featured on the news and in studies as a potentially deadly stretch of road?”

“People complain about it,” said McGowan. “There are a lot of accidents, a lot of [fatalities] on Route 13.” The evidence is clear and the transportation officials in Accomack and Northampton counties need to take action.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton is a Virginia injury law firm handling Eastern Shore VA injury accident law and we have handled thousands of car and truck accident cases, including many on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Check out our case results to see for yourself. We are familiar with Route 13, including people from Accomack, Onancock, Chincoteauge, Wachapreague, and Cape Charles, Bloxom, Eastville, Exmore, Greenbackville, Machipongo, Mappsville, Melfa, Nassawadox, Onley, Tangier, Temperanceville, Wachapreague, and Wallops Island. We provide free injury case consultations, so call us toll free at 1-800-752-0042. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included among the “Best Lawyers in America” 2010 Edition. These two, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper were named 2010 Virginia “Super Lawyers” For Personal Injury Law (less than 5% of outstanding lawyers are chosen), and our firm includes attorneys selected by the National Million Dollar Advocates Forum. In addition, we were the first injury law firm in Virginia to join Primerus, a select group of highly ethical, respected law firms. We provide this blog as a pro bono public service.