6 road workers hurt when driver hits their truck, WA officials say. ‘We’re angry’
Six transportation workers were sent to a hospital after officials say a driver accused of DUI slammed into one of their trucks along a Washington highway.
“If it sounds like we’re angry. …we’re angry. This happens too often,” the Washington State Department of Transportation posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The maintenance crew was preparing to fill potholes around 9:40 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 21, on Interstate 5 in Vancouver, according to the transportation agency.
One of the worker’s vehicles displayed flashing bright yellow lights, a warning to drivers, as the crew used a rolling slowdown to control lanes of traffic, the agency said in an email to McClatchy News.
33-year-old arrested
The warning lights didn’t deter a driver from slamming into the back of one of the WSDOT trucks that was parked on the shoulder of I-5, officials said.
“The force of the strike caused the first WSDOT vehicle to collide into another WSDOT vehicle in front of it,” officials said.
Four crew members were taken to a hospital by ambulance and two others were taken by their supervisor, officials said.
The 33-year-old driver accused of hitting the truck was arrested on suspicion of DUI and vehicular assault, officials and KATU reported. Washington State Patrol did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for more information Jan. 24.
All of the workers had been released from the hospital by the afternoon of Jan. 22, officials said. They will “remain off-duty while they manage varying symptoms of rear end collisions.
“This weekend we got several messages asking us to fix potholes on I-5 in Vancouver. We tried,” the agency tweeted.
‘Keep road workers safe’
Now transportation officials are warning other drivers to be cautious while driving through road work zones.
“Remember that those are REAL PEOPLE out there, and decisions to drink & drive, speed, check text messages, they have real consequences. Please do your part to keep road workers safe,” the agency said in post.
Collisions happen in work zones across the country every 5.4 minutes, transportation officials said.
In 2021, there were 956 work zone fatalities in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration.
Six fatal crashes were reported in work zones in Washington in 2022, in addition to 1,192 “reported collisions either in a work zone or in a related back-up.”
In total, 60 Washington State Department of Transportation employees have been killed since 1950 in “work zone-related activities.”
Vancouver is about 10 miles north of Portland, Oregon.
This story was originally published January 24, 2024 at 2:38 PM with the headline "6 road workers hurt when driver hits their truck, WA officials say. ‘We’re angry’."
