ODESSA, Texas — Spring break is when the books close and the cars hit the road. While heading to your spring break destination, it's important to drive safely and watch out for road workers.
“You need to pay attention to what's going on if there's a work zone," said Texas Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Maryann Cedillo. "If traffic is slow or stopped, you really need to watch out for those things. Look for things that that could happen and be that defensive driver.”
The Permian Basin may not be the premiere travel destination, but West Texas is along the route to many of the state's biggest attractions. Of course, there's always a decent amount of traffic because of the oil and gas industry.
“I think we’ll have some increased traffic that comes through to the larger destinations like Dallas, the Fort Worth area, the metroplex," Cedillo said. "So we will expect some additional traffic, but as you know our area is really high traffic anyway due to the heavy oil field traffic and big trucks that kind of thing.”
That is no reason to fear because TxDOT has a new way to ensure everyone makes smart decisions behind the wheel. They call it the "Basin 20".
“What it does is we have message boards along that I-20 corridor where we're half come to the construction zone, and it lets you know what those travel times are," Cedillo said. "So I call it 'know before you go,' you can look and see the real time traffic that's moving through there. If it's red, it means it's really slow. It's maybe even stopped. It's green, it's free flowing.”
Another tool to protect spring breakers is the "Drive Sober. No Regrets." initiative.
“Drunk Driving is an avoidable thing," Cedillo said. "So anytime you're impaired, you've had one drink, you've had two drinks, you had several drinks. Those crashes are always avoidable.”
The initiative encourages, specifically college students, to drive responsibly especially now.
“During spring break you see a lot of young adults that are out having a good time they're going to the beach and they're being intoxicated or drinking, doing all those things," Cedillo said. "Make sure you have that designated driver, make sure that there's a responsible person that can get you home safely because something that could start out as fun as like spring break can really end up in a tragedy if you don't.”
Safety on the road is important year-round, but during this time, every extra precaution you take is putting you further from danger and closer to fun.