I-485 speeders face enforcement crackdown after wrecks killed 5, hurt trooper
Interstate 485 speeders face an enforcement crackdown after a 100-mph driver started a chain of wrecks that killed four Belmont family members and an Indian Trail man Friday night, the State Highway Patrol said.
A car driver hit Trooper Adolfo Lopez-Alcedo Saturday morning as he helped shut down the highway again to further investigate the wreck. He remained in critical condition at Carolinas Medical Center on Wednesday.
The State Highway Patrol identified the driver of the car that started the chain of wrecks as a 24-year-old Charlotte man who will be charged after he is released from the hospital.
The Highway Patrol plans to deploy a five-member enforcement team beginning July 20 to curtail speeding and other reckless driving on I-485’s inner and outer loops, Trooper Ray Pierce told The Charlotte Observer .
The team will focus on non-rush hours each day when the most speeding occurs, Pierce said. The site where the fatal wreck occurred — I-485 Outer Loop near W.T. Harris Boulevard — will be among the first areas of focus, according to the Highway Patrol.
Enforcement will include troopers on bridges using radar to spot speeders and then alerting a trooper parked ahead on the shoulder of the interstate, Pierce said.
After a couple weeks of enforcement, Highway Patrol officials will analyze citations and other data to see if the enforcement is working and should continue, according to Pierce.
I-485 is a ‘race track’
Speeding and other reckless drivers have plagued I-485 for years, troopers said.
Troopers not assigned to the Charlotte area but who are just passing through have described I-485 as a race track, Pierce said. They’ve witnessed drivers going up to 120 mph, he said.
Since Jan. 1, 2018, some 25 people have died in I-485 wrecks and 1,400 were hurt, State Highway Patrol figures show.
Troopers cited 6,800 drivers for going at least 10 mph over the 70-mph posted speed limit, including 942 drivers clocked at 94 mph and above, according to the figures.
I-485 speeding is so bad that the State Highway Patrol intended to deploy a similar enforcement team in January, but the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed those plans, Pierce said.
As the virus spread, the N.C. Department of Public Safety ordered troopers to stop drivers only for “the most egregious offenses, so we kind of put it on the back burner,” Pierce said.
I-485 drag racing, although rare, also has occurred, according to Pierce, including impromptu duels when a driver happens upon a similar make and model car.
Catching such drivers is difficult, he said: Most have radar detectors and are long gone when a trooper arrives.
Speeding, however, “is our biggest issue, our biggest hurdle and causes the majority of our catastrophic crashes,” Pierce said.
Trooper shortage
The State Highway Patrol, however, faces a shortage of troopers to cover the combined 200 miles of interstate in Mecklenburg County, Pierce said. That includes Interstate 77 and Interstate 85, he said.
And 90% of what the 25 troopers in Mecklenburg do is respond to service calls, which leaves little time for enforcement initiatives, he said.
So a handful of troopers from surrounding counties will form the I-485 team, including Anson, Union, Gaston and Cleveland, Pierce said.
Friday’s wreck
Friday’s wrecks killed Matthew and Andrea Obester and their daughters, Violet, 7, and Elizabeth, 12, in their SUV, and Mark Barlaan of Indian Trail in another car, according to the Highway Patrol.
The wrecks started when the speeding driver hit the back of a box truck traveling on the I-485 Outer Loop, Pierce said.
Reneta Shonta Hines, the 43-year-old box truck driver, lost control. veered off the left shoulder, into the median and through cable barriers before heading into oncoming traffic on the Inner Loop, Pierce said.
Hines hit the car in which the 58-year-old Barlaan was a back seat passenger, after striking the Obesters’ SUV.
Hines was hospitalized with a broken arm, broken wrist and several broken ribs, the trooper said.
Barlaan’s wife, Jocelyn, and their son, Jameson, who was driving the car, were hospitalized with serious injuries, Pierce said.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 2:49 PM.