Driving on the left side of the road, in the USA?! Now you have to when you drive through a new DDI. Recently, at a major interchange in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the old freeway bridge over the interstate was demolished, and replaced with two bridges for Fillmore Road, in what is called a diverging diamond interchange (DDI). Apparently a DDI is a safer way for the traffic on the non-freeway road to go over the freeway. It does involve driving on the left side of the road. While you are only driving on the left side of the road for a short time, this is a major mindset change for anyone who has been driving in the United States. We just don’t drive on the left side of the road in the US. I have never driven on the left side of the road in this country before this new intersection forced me to drive on what Americans would call “the wrong side of the road.”
Right now this DDI is still under construction as it is close to completion. However the new traffic pattern has been set, the roadway is open, and people have been driving on the left side of this road over the new bridges for several weeks now. According to www.divergingdiamondinterchange.org, a DDI creates an efficient traffic pattern method by eliminating the need for left turn arrows, which is supposed to lead to less congestion in the area. I can understand this because one of the most common types of accidents is when a driver fails to yield the right of way to oncoming traffic while turning left. I just thought it was weird to see the cars going the wrong direction on the bridges as I was passing under them on the interstate. I was not able to find out how many of DDIs currently exist in the US, but it seems that we will see more as the years go on and old, outdated highway overpass bridges get replaced. These intersections are clearly marked and set up in a way to prevent you from driving into oncoming traffic. If anything though, I think this is major reason to not drive distracted or impaired, since you don’t know when you’ll go from driving on the right side of the road, to driving on the left side of the road at a DDIs. So please keep your eyes on the road, both sides of it!
mrhelper@bestcarwreckinfo.com
bestcarwreckinfo.com
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