09/03/2026
🚧 BARRICADES AREN’T SUGGESTIONS—THEY’RE WARNINGS. 🚧
When you come across a roadway blocked by barricades, delineators, or traffic cones, they aren't there as a suggestion; they have been placed because a potential hazard exists and the roadway may be unsafe to travel.
This is especially important when barricades are placed because of rising water or water flowing across a roadway.
We’ve all seen it—and some of us have probably done it. Driving through water can look harmless, and there may even be a little temptation😈.
But what looks like a few inches of water covering that normal road can quickly become a dangerous or even life-threatening situation.
👀You Can't See What's Under the Water!!👀
One of the biggest dangers of driving across a flooded roadway isn't simply the depth of the water, but what you can't see underneath it.
A roadway that was perfectly intact an hour ago may no longer be intact.
Moving water can wash away soil supporting the pavement, damage or displace culverts and drainage piping, undermine road shoulders, create deep washouts, or cause sections of pavement to collapse. Water flowing across a roadway can change conditions within minutes.
The surface may still look like nothing more than water covering the road.
You simply don't know what is underneath it.
🌊Moving Water Is More Powerful Than It Looks!!
Another danger is the force of moving water.
A vehicle doesn't have to be completely submerged to lose traction or become unstable. As water rises and begins pushing against a vehicle, the driver can quickly lose the ability to steer or control where the vehicle goes.
That attempt to cross a short-flooded section of roadway can result in a vehicle being pushed off the pavement and into a ditch, creek, drainage channel, or river.
Once that happens, the situation can become significantly more dangerous in a matter of seconds.
🚧Going Around the Barricade Doesn't Just Put You at Risk!!
There's another part of the decision that is sometimes overlooked.
When you deliberately drive around a barricade and become stranded, you're potentially putting someone else's life at risk too.
Firefighters, law enforcement officers, EMS personnel, swift-water rescue teams, and other first responders may have to enter the same dangerous conditions you were warned not to enter in order to rescue you.
What began as taking a shortcut or wanting to see whether your vehicle could make it through can turn into an emergency requiring multiple responders, specialized equipment, and people risking their own safety.
Barricades Are Not a Challenge
🚧 A barricade across a flooded roadway isn't challenging you to see whether your 🛻truck, 🚙SUV, or 🚗car can make it.
It's communicating something very simple:
🛑DO NOT ENTER. THE ROADWAY MAY BE UNSAFE.🛑
It doesn't matter if another vehicle made it across.
It doesn't matter if you've driven through that location during flooding before.
It doesn't matter if the water doesn't look very deep.
And it doesn't matter if going around means taking the long way home.
Conditions can change rapidly, and what was passable for the vehicle ahead of you may not be passable when you get there.
Turn Around, Don't Drown!!
🚧Barricades, delineators, and cones are placed for a reason. Respecting them isn't about inconvenience—it's about getting home safely!
When rising or moving water is involved - never assume you know what's underneath the surface or how strong the current may be.
Your destination will still be there.
Your vehicle can take another route.
And a few extra minutes—or even an extra hour—of inconvenience is far better than putting your life and the lives of first responders at unnecessary risk.
