Crash data raises safety questions about bridge protests on I-40

Crashes occurred twice as often on a busy stretch of Interstate 40 during scheduled pedestrian bridge protests by the Triangle Unified Bridge Brigade as they did during comparable periods without demonstrations, according to a Carolina Journal analysis of state vehicle accident records.

After hearing reports from motorists about crashes and backups near the bridge, Carolina Journal reviewed DOT crash records between exits 273 and 278 on I-40 in Durham during recurring Wednesday and Thursday demonstrations from May 1, 2025, through April 30, 2026.

Rear-end collisions increased by 157% during the protest period, according to the analysis. The crashes caused more than $80,000 in estimated property damage.

Beyond just an increase in accidents, details from these crash reports highlight other interesting trends. When comparing crashes over the same interval as before, average collision speed was 18.4% lower during protests, dropping from 48.73mph to 39.75mph. 

According to a study conducted by professors Johnathan E Hughes, Daniel Kaffine, and Leah Kaffine, those slower speeds may indicate higher traffic build up.

While a spokesperson for ED4D, who organizes the protests, said they understood why CJ chose to compare Wednesdays and Thursdays with and without protests, they said they felt that “the data would be stronger to at least include Tuesdays and also data from a year before we started to get a real sense of the pattern rather than just the two days the demonstrations are and data just from when we started.”

Drivers describe trouble beneath bridge

“Just in the course of a month, I’ve seen cars on the side of the road on three separate occasions under the Southpoint exit pedestrian bridge, blocking traffic for miles behind them due to accidents,” said a commuter who passes through Durham on I-40 at rush hour on the way to Wake County on weekdays for work. 

Drivers have also reported several close calls and near misses under the bridge. 

“Even when there are not accidents, traffic gets backed up because people are slowing down and swerving, trying to read the signs or wave, whether with five fingers or sometimes just one,” the commuter said. “Recently, a Prius in front of me honked his horn, put a clenched fist out the window in solidarity with the protesters, then had to slam on his brakes hard because he almost rammed the car in front of him from taking his eyes off the road.”

Several motorists interviewed by CJ reported frequently seeing collisions and cars off-road under the bridge. 

“There are often cars scattered on the shoulder under the pedestrian bridge,” said a 17-year-old student driver. “I can’t help looking around at not only the people waving signs, but also all of the commotion underneath.”

CJ spoke with several members of local law enforcement agencies, including former and current North Carolina State Troopers, Triangle-area police officers, and traffic researchers who described how rear-end collisions are vastly more common in high traffic, stop-and-start conditions. 

“I am not surprised by the reported increase in traffic incidents and crashes when there is significant pedestrian activity and signage on the American Tobacco Trail bridge,” said David Noyce, the Arthur F. Hawnn professor of Transportation Engineering at the University of Wisconsin. 

“Although I have not personally witnessed an event on the bridge, I have seen video news stories and photographs from previous events,” Noyce said. “It is clear that signs, flag waving, and other events on the bridge are in place to draw drivers’ attention as they traverse I-40.”

He added that CJ’s statistical analysis showing increased rear-end collisions and overall accidents is consistent with the expected result of increased driver distraction.

“Drivers who observe the activity and read the signs move their attention away from the driving task, creating speed variability and reduced spatial awareness,” Noyce said. “Given the driver distraction created with the bridge events, there is no surprise in hearing that crash rates increase, and no surprise that many of the crashes are rear-end and sideswipe crash types.”

Protesters say they put safety first

According to the public calendar provided by the Triangle Unified Bridge Brigade as well as the protesters CJ interviewed, protests are typically held on Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:00pm and Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:30am.

Many protesters were part of several local activist organizations, including the Durham Resistance, Engaged Defenders 4 Democracy, and the Durham chapter of Indivisible.

A spokesperson for ED4D said in a statement to CJ, “We have been very deliberate in our actions as safety is our number one priority.”

Bridge Brigades hold regular protests on several pedestrian bridges and highway overpasses around the Triangle, 38 in total according to one bridge captain, and their website states that each bridge has a captain who has completed safety training. 

Carolina Journal attended a bridge protest on the morning of July 16 and spoke with a bridge captain who said she had not received any general safety training. She said, however, that she had received “Siembra training about protecting people from ICE.”

When asked whether she had experienced any confrontations or harassment from trail-goers, she cited only one recurring incident involving a cyclist who regularly heckled the protesters as she rode past.

The bridge captain we spoke with described a recent collision involving a driver who was distracted by the protest.

“We had one instance about a month ago where a man in a white pickup truck was looking up at us giving us the middle finder and slammed into the car in front of him and caused a huge backup in traffic that went back for miles,” she said.

She added that “there is nothing we can do about that.”

A spokesperson for the ED4D said that even in that specific case, the bridge protest was probably not the catalyst for the collision.

“This driver likely had other things going on that caused him to rear end the driver if he felt compelled to show us his anger and displeasure with our message,” said the ED4D spokesperson. “This is the only accident we have witnessed where the driver directly was looking at us when he hit another car.”

Safety concerns raise legal questions

On Bridge Brigade’s publicly available information page, the organization states: “we strive to keep our signs legible from the applicable distances to avoid unnecessary distractions that could cause accidents.” 

A spokesperson for the ED4D compared the bridge brigades’ protests to highway billboards. 

“The research I have read is that our being on bridges is akin to being a billboard,” said ED4D. “Billboards have been around for many years, yet billboards do not cause accidents as people glance up momentarily to read the billboard.”

However, directly below that on their information page they show an image of a past bridge protest, in which they display a sign encouraging motorists to “honk 4 fair wages,” A request that asks drivers to do more than just glance.

North Carolina General Statute G.S. 20-125 states that “It shall be unlawful… for any person at any time to use a horn otherwise than as a reasonable warning or to make any unnecessary or unreasonable loud or harsh sound by means of a horn or other warning device.” 

“In Porter v. Martinez, the Ninth Circuit upheld a nearly identical statute — restricting horn use to circumstances of safe operation — against a First Amendment challenge from a driver cited for honking in support of a political protest,” said Jeanette Doran, the Beverly Lake, Jr. chair of Constitutional Studies at the John Locke Foundation. 

“A protest sign that reads ‘honk’ asks passing drivers to sound their horns not as a warning, but as a form of applause,” said Doran. “This creates the kind of safety risk the statute appears designed to prevent.” 

A spokesperson from ED4D said that “Most people wave or honk their horn gleefully.”

“What’s notable is that the Ninth Circuit upheld that law with no evidence in the record that the honking in question had ever caused an accident,” Doran said. “Here, we’re not dealing with a hypothetical safety interest — we have an actual, documented rise in traffic accidents corresponding with these bridge protests. If a content-neutral horn restriction survives First Amendment scrutiny on a bare record, it survives even more easily when real data back the safety interest it protects.”

Rather than avoiding drawing attention from the roadway, the bridge captain told CJ that they counted honks and used them as a metric of engagement.

“[motorists] respond by honking, waving, and flashing their lights,” the bridge captain said. “When I’m here, I count the number of honks.”

She stated that the record was “over 500 honks” in one morning. 

CJ observed frequent honking and hand signaling while on the bridge, despite no sign being out that morning specifically calling for motorists to honk.

“If, as seems to be the case, these protests on highway bridges are a threat to traffic safety, I think it would be fine for the General Assembly to forbid them,” said Jon Guze, the senior fellow for legal studies at the John Locke Foundation. “The First Amendment protects the right to protest, but as interpreted by the courts, it permits reasonable restrictions on the time, place, or manner of speech.”

Guze added that “A complete ban on highway overpass protests would be content neutral — protecting traffic safety is clearly a significant governmental interest — and there are plenty of alternative places these protestors could go.”

A spokesperson for ED4D said that “if these Visibility Bridge Brigades were causing accidents, they would have been stopped a long time ago.” 

“Crash data raises safety questions about bridge protests on I-40” was originally published on www.carolinajournal.com.