CINCINNATI — A man who has been driving trucks for two decades said uneven pavement, lane restrictions and excessive speeding on Interstate 75 drove him to quit his job.
Brian Long lives in the Dayton area, but his route brought him through Cincinnati every day on I-75.
“I have a hard time getting to sleep because I think about my day when I get home and it’s not the day that it used to be,” Long said.
While Long said he can’t quit driving altogether, he left his position about two weeks ago so he wouldn’t have to drive that stretch of highway.
“I was so upset by the time I got home,” he said. “Trucks were right up on the back ends of cars. The jarring up and down into some of those curves, you had really better hang on to your steering wheel."
Additionally, Long said he’s witnessed excessive speeding from regular drivers and people who drive commercial vehicles.
“These trucks are going at least 20 over the limit. I’m really surprised more people haven’t been killed through that area,” he said.
Kathleen Fuller, an Ohio Department of Transportation spokesperson, said there have been 20 crashes involving ODOT crews in work zones this year.
Last year, there were more than 430 crashes involving commercial vehicles just on I-75 from Butler County to the Brent Spence Bridge, and about 20% resulted in injuries. That number has only increased over the last five years.
Fuller said drivers should watch their speed in construction zones and keep at least three to four car lengths of distance from other drivers.
“So many of our crashes are preventable,” Fuller said. “That’s the bottom line, they are preventable. But it takes the driver to make the right decision.”
Long said his boss offered him a new route when he tried to resign.
“I’m now going to Dearborn, Michigan, the Michigan area, and staying out of Cincinnati altogether,” Long said.
