We had another tragic event on I-10 last week.
A young man lost his life.
Our condolences go out to the family.
Unfortunately the accident is another example of where the authorities need to rethink their procedures for handling such events.
I-10 was blocked off in both directions for more than three hours. I’m not familiar with the procedures that the authorities follow in order to investigate and document in these cases.
What I do know is that they take too long.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
The major problem is, there are few to no Police working the streets, highways in El Paso. The Mayor, Town Council REFUSE to PAY the Police or fund their benefits, retirements. The politicians have turned the Police Department into a “Reaction Force”. Apparently they are only ALLOWED to respond WHEN something happens. Apparently the “Response Time”, depends upon how long it takes “Working” Officers to get from East to West, North to South. If you see a “Black and White” on U.S. 54, Martin Luther King, I-10, Trans Mountain, or School Zones, it’s probably a DPS Trooper or Sheriff Department. Every now and then ONE motor Officer on 54. Very dangerous. Bikers, cars doing 80-100 MPH in the construction areas. Police being assigned to drive around neighborhoods, to write tickets on jacked-up vehicles?? Why aren’t they on the highways?. How many Officers does it take to guard the Mountain Star ball field? Anybody see cars from Mexico with Chih’ua, Kansas, Colorado, California tags, ever get stopped?? No point in doing “Enforcement” when people won’t pay fines and they don’t go to jail. But then El Taxo is the “Safest city in the World”, just ask the politicians.
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Sadly you are so right on this. Bet you most of those who read these posts have encountered a ticket trap or know someone who has – example, a police car hidden around a corner so the officer can zoom out and say “you only stopped 4.5 feet behind the Stop sign, here’s a ticket for $200.” Respect for our local police stops there.
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> , there are few to no Police working the streets, highways in El Paso
That may be the larger issue, but available manpower has no effect on how long it takes to do a fatality investigation, assuming there are enough to set up traffic control. It’s one of those things that requires a certain amount of time to do. There’s a saying that “It takes 1 woman 9 months to make a baby, but 2 women cannot make a baby in 4 1/2 months.”
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If they had shut the interstate down in Houston, there would have been a riot.
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Single direction highway closures due to fatality are relatively common in Houston (and Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, etc). Full bidirectional closures are rarer because the incident is usually restricted to one side or the other.
Highway lane direction of travel is also reversed in Houston sometimes for evacuation purposes.
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Fatality accidents normally take hours to clear in any major jurisdiction; that’s not unusual. What was unusual was the accident started on one side of the highway and ended on the oncoming side — that caused the bidirectional shutdown.
I am no cop-hugger but this incident response was fine in this case.
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Support our MEN & WOMEN in BLUE !
Yes we need more and well paid for their service
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Steps for investigating a traffic accident: http://www.co.wise.tx.us/constable/downloads/traffic%20accident%20investigation.pdf
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