Crashes on the roads also result in blackouts. During this year, 71 traffic accidents in the province of Santiago caused the breakage of 84 power line polesgenerating service interruptions that affected thousands of users and million-dollar losses in medium and high voltage infrastructure, reported Edenorte Dominican.
These incidents directly impacted the electrical system, forcing the execution of emergency work to restore supply in different parts of the province.
According to the report, the accidents occurred mainly in road corridors with high traffic flow, including the Duarte highwayEstrella Sadhalá Avenue, the North Beltway, the Joaquín Balaguer Highway and Hispanoamericana Avenue, as well as in the Navarrete–Puerto Plata highwaythe Tavera Dam road and the La Turística road.
Damage was also reported in communities in the municipality. San José de las Matassuch as Inoa, El Rubio and La Cuesta, in addition to sectors such as Camp DavidPedro García and Hato Mayor, where the fall of poles caused long interruptions of electrical service in residential, commercial and industrial areas.
Financial effect
Edenorte indicated that, in addition to the damage to electrical structures, these events generated a considerable impact on the energy not served during repair processes, which represents a additional cost unplanned within the operation of the distributor.
The company specified that each accident that affects a pole of the power lines involves a complex technical operation, which includes the replacement of structures, network repair medium and high voltage, replacement of conductors and, in some cases, transformers, as well as the continuous deployment of specialized brigadeseven at night.
He also pointed out that several of these accidents were associated with unfortunate events with human lossesand reiterated that factors such as reckless drivinghe speedingalcohol consumption and distracted driving continue to influence these types of events, especially during festive periods.
Given this situation, the Maintenance Management of the Sector Santiago urged drivers to respect the traffic rules already assume a responsible behavior on the roads, warning that the breakage of an electrical pole not only affects the continuity of the service, but also compromises the safety of entire communities and the technical personnel working to restore the supply.
