Chapala traffic department commandant Hector Magaña Rios is on a mission to remedy the perils of navigating the Chapala-Ajijic Libramiento.
The south end of the heavily traveled bypass road at its intersection with the Chapala-Jocotepec highway has been the scene of several recent accidents involving large cargo trucks.
Only July 3, the driver of a gondola dump truck loaded with sand ran into a ditch to avoid plowing through the intersection into on-coming traffic. Just two weeks later a Pemex tanker filled with gasoline and another carrying water crashed back-to-back near the same spot. This week it was a cement mixer that spun out of control and pancaked a passenger car.
Magaña says the truck drivers in all these cases claimed that brake failure caused the wrecks. But he’s convinced that high speed and carelessness were the key factors.The drivers simply didn’t take into account the laws of physics that apply to large trucks carrying heavy loads. Waiting too long to reduce speed, they outdrove their brakes, making it impossible to overcome forward momentum.
The commandant is appealing to his superiors at Jalisco’s SVT motor vehicle department to implement safety measures along the downward approach to the junction. The inherent problem, he explains, is the deceptive incline of the roadway that begins in the vicinity of the ITS technical institute. He has already requested installation of a series of warning signs and vibradores (rumble strips) to alert drivers and force them to reduce speed.
In Magaña’s assessment, the northern extreme of the Libramiento is an even more critical danger spot. A dozen crosses planted next to the divided underpass leading to the steeply curved cloverleaf that connects to the Chapala-Guadalajara highway provide mute testimony to multiple fatalities that have occurred there.
He points out that the interchange lacks adequate signage and roadway markings to properly guide motorists. And some type of physical barrier is needed to define the lane division beneath the bridge.
Early this week Magaña took local reporters out for a drive to snap photos he can use to document his case for the men upstairs. He intends to build small scale models to show the corrective measures he advocates.
“I want to solve problems and deficiencies that have been neglected for many years,” he declared. “The local government has been very cooperative in helping me achieve that goal. The Chapala area deserves better attention to assure safety for resident motorists and tourists.”