By Rick Shapiro, Portsmouth Accident Injury Attorney

If you are a commuter around the Virginia cities of Portsmouth, Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Suffolk or Hampton, congestion is likely to be a way of life. According to the Virginian-Pilot, drivers in Hampton Roads spent about 34 hours stuck in congestion during 2010. The analysis was performed by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.

“The delay time crept up a couple of hours over 2009 but is still significantly less than in much of the past decade. They peaked in the early to mid-2000s in the low 40s,” the Pilot reported.

Although traffic congestion may not be getting worse over the long term, the article suggests the problems have become more serious at bottlenecks at bridges and tunnels such as the Downtown and Midtown Tunnels linking Norfolk with Portsmouth, VA and the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel linking Hampton with Norfolk, VA.

Congestion may not just be costly in terms of time lost to commuters. In busy stop-and-go conditions on interstates such as I-64, rear enders can be common, often leading to chain-reaction accidents. During backups tempers can flare leading to road rage and other infractions. Recent figures for red light enforcement cameras in Chesapeake, VA, illustrate how drivers are still going through lights on red, endangering themselves and other road users.

This isn’t the only infraction occurring at peak times. My colleague John Cooper has reported how illegal lane changes are taking place in the Downtown Tunnel at Portsmouth, VA, where drivers are ignoring a solid white line, causing a potentially lethal danger.

At busy intersections drivers can easily become distracted. They can fail to notice other road users. Motorcyclists are particularly vulnerable in such cases. Earlier this year our experienced Virginia accident injury attorneys reported on the death of a motorcyclist at the intersection of Des Moines Avenue and Portsmouth Boulevard, in Portsmouth. In a recent case our client received a $105,000 settlement after he was hit by a car and knocked off his motorcycle in Virginia Beach, suffering a pelvic fracture.

DM

About the Editors: Personal Injury Lawyers with the Shapiro, Cooper, Lewis & Appleton law firm do only injury and accident law. We have experience handling car, truck, motorcycle, van and SUV accident cases, and our case results speak for themselves. Rick Shapiro and James Lewis were included in the 2011 issue of Best Lawyers in America. They, along with fellow attorney John M. Cooper, were also named 2011 Virginia Super Lawyers for Personal Injury Law, an honor which fewer than 5 percent of outstanding lawyers receive. Our primary office is in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA), but we often represent clients in Portsmouth, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News and Suffolk. If we agree to take your case, we will come to you at home or even in the hospital, to make it easier for you. We are ready to talk to you by phone at (757) 460-7776. We provide free initial confidential injury case consultations. Our injury attorneys also host an extensive injury law video library on Youtube. Further, our lawyers proudly edit the Norfolk, Portsmouth & Hampton Injuryboard, Virginia Beach, Chesapeake & Suffolk Injuryboard, VA-NC Wrongful Death Lawyers, VA & NC Medical Surgery Malpractice Attorneys Blog and Virginia Trucking Accident/Injury Blog to provide important health, safety and legal information to the public.