Slow down in work zones

Our views

The Olympian • Published May 07, 2008

In a recent poignant flag-lowering ceremony, state Department of Transportation officials, workers and surviving family members remembered the 56 transportation employees who have lost their lives in work zone-related accidents since 1950.

The memorial and DOT's official launch of the 2008 road construction season provide the opportunity to remind motorists to slow down and pay attention while negotiating work zones.

It may come as a surprise to many that it's not the flaggers or the contract workers who face the greatest risk of injury or death in work zones. It's the men and women behind the wheel and their passengers.

During the past seven years, according to DOT statistics, there have been:

• 52 work zone deaths

• 5,411 work zone injuries

Close to 99 percent of people injured or killed in work zones are drivers and passengers.

A typical work zone accident occurs between noon and 3 p.m. on a clear or cloudy Wednesday in August as a result of speeding or inattentive driving. The three most common types of collisions are rear-enders, striking a fixed object and sideswiping a concrete or Jersey barrier.

At the ceremony last month, transportation officials remembered each of their colleagues with an orange construction cone placed before a "Work Zone Awareness" memorial. While the somber speakers looked back to the accidents that changed the lives of surviving family members, state officials also looked forward and implored motorists to pay attention while traveling through a work zone so that other names will not be added to the memorial.

Their recommendations:

• Slow down and stay calm. Officials said work zones aren't there to personally inconvenience motorists, as some believe. They are there to improve the roads for the safe travel of everyone.

• Merge as soon as possible. Motorists can help maintain traffic flow and posted speeds by moving to the appropriate lane at first notice of an approaching work zone.

• Stay abreast of construction projects and try an alternate route.

• Expect delays, plan for them and leave early to reach the intended destination on time.

• Some work zones — like line painting, road patching and mowing — are mobile. Just because you don't see the workers immediately, heed the warning signs, slow down and pay attention until you spot the "END ROAD WORK" sign.

Interestingly, when questioned in a recent survey, four out of five motorists said they obey the law and slow down while traversing a work zone. However, radar speed checks showed none of them actually did.

Motorists need to understand that it takes 52 seconds more to travel through a two-mile long work zone at 45 mph than it does at 65 mph.

That minor inconvenience is not worth the life of a transportation worker or fellow traveler. Slow down and give workers and other motorists a break.