How Construction Detours Increase Confusion and Collisions

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The United States has in excess of four million miles of highway and roads. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, as of 2025, over 207,000 miles of those roads were under repair or improvement. Another 12,300-plus bridges were undergoing replacement or upgrades. The United States Government reports that spending on road construction nationwide stands at approximately $2.19 trillion as of January 2026.

All of this road construction means delays, congestion, and detours for drivers. Technology has afforded government transportation agencies ways to warn drivers of detours and construction sites, Drivers can find alternate routes through electronic highway messaging or GPS navigation systems.

Road construction and detours present dangers for operators of vehicles, passengers, and workers. The National Safety Council reports that, in 2023, 898 people died and 40,170 sustained injuries in a road construction, road maintenance, or utility work zone. Accidents in work zones on roads and highway often involve confused, distracted, and impatient drivers.

Why Do Detours Confuse Drivers?

A construction detour alters your driving behavior. It forces you to consider a different route to your particular destination and likely will take you to an unfamiliar area. In addition to the change in route, detours for road construction often come with:

* Shifts in traffic lanes or patterns

* Unmarked lanes

* Dramatic drops in the speed limit

* Unexpected yield or stop signs

* The presence of construction workers or law enforcement officers directing traffic

* Narrowing streets or roads bounded by cones or concrete barriers

* Closed lanes or road shoulders

These features of detours and construction zones require drivers to pay extra attention and often force drivers to make quick decisions. Frequent and sudden breaking, yielding, stopping, slowing, and lane changes characterize driving through a detour or work zone. Those who lack patience or diligence in navigating through detours can cause serious injury or even death to other motorists, passengers, or road workers.

Even advanced notice of detours or road closures may not reduce the confusion. To be sure, a “variable message sign” (VMS) can tell motorists to avoid a certain area or even suggest alternate routes. However, drivers merely passing through the city or region may not have familiarity with local streets or other alternate routes. Such motorists turn to GPS navigation systems on their vehicles or phones to drive around the construction area. One study suggests that, even with no delays noted in the construction area, any where from three-fourths to 83 percent of motorists will use a GPS to avoid construction. That means many motorists look at screens rather than the road or traffic when encountering a detour or work zone.

GPS systems may not provide reliable alternate routes. Inaccurate directions or delayed information may divert motorists from the most convenient or safe routes and fail to accurately display real-time traffic conditions. The errors and the inherent distraction of navigation systems add to the confusion of drivers and risks of crashes and resulting injuries. By some studies, roughly 200,000 crashes in the United States each year are tied to GPS distractions.

Distracted Drivers

Confused drivers become distracted ones. The dangers of distracted driving are well documented. You probably have read or heard that, for just five seconds of viewing a phone screen, you travel 100 yards – about the length of a football field (at 55 miles per hour).

As detours take drivers on unfamiliar paths, GPS navigation use increases. Motorists look at their screens for directions, streets, highways, and the time remaining until they reach their destination. Fixated on the navigation screen, drivers might not notice road conditions or traffic in front of or around them. Rear end collisions result from motorists’ failure to keep a proper lookout for vehicles in front or approaching.

Even a second or two looking at the screen can cause you to lose enough control to meander off the road or into oncoming traffic. This can lead to head-on collisions. According to the National Safety Council, approximately 30 percent of traffic fatalities occurred in head-on collisions. Due to the force applied, non-fatal head-on crashes cause concussions, other severe traumatic brain injuries, fractures, spinal cord injuries, and paralysis.

Drivers who swerve to regain lane control may rollover their vehicles. Passengers and drivers in these incidents face serious injuries or death. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that, in 2023:

* An estimated 5,700 people died in rollover crashes

* Rollovers accounted for 38 percent of fatalites of occupants of pickup trucks

* Approximately 34 percent of occupants in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) died in rollover crashes

Construction detours come with other conditions and objects that make distracted driving injurious. An experienced car accident lawyer like the attorneys at Folkman Law may handle cases where a motorist fails to pay attention and, as a result:

* Runs into a concrete barrier

* Strikes a construction worker or pedestrian

* Sideswipes another vehicle by not observing lane shifts or when your lane runs out

* Causes a rear-end collision by not noticing slowing or stopped vehicles

Aggressive Drivers

Detours create impatient and frustrated drivers. Those who find themselves detoured or in construction zones face congestion and delays.

Depending on the detour’s location, expect a detour to add anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 minutes to your trip. This increases the likelihood of your or another motorist’s being late for work, an appointment, a meeting, or engagement. Speeding becomes a way for drivers to reduce or avoid the delays. A survey from the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration reports that roughly two out of every five respondents speed to avoid being late.

Speeding because of a detour raises the specter of serious injuries. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, speeding was a contributing factor in approximately 29 percent of fatalities in 2024. Indeed, 11,288 people died due in part to speeding.

Risky behaviors extend beyond exceeding the speed limit or what is prudent for the construction or detour area. Drivers encountering detours or work zones manifest aggressive driving through:

* Changing lanes without determining whether it is safe

* Tailgating or otherwise following too closely

Rear-end collisions represent the most common type in work zones. In fact, these account for roughly one in every five fatal work zone crashes.

Planning and patience can help you avoid being a victim of a crash from a detour or work zone conditions. Learn from your state or local transportation department the location of any road work. Allow yourself extra time to reach a destination by leaving early. Find and study alternate routes.