Construction Officials Urge Summer Travel Motorists to Stay Alert While Driving through Work Zones, Noting Highway Workers are at Risk while Drivers and Passengers are Even More Likely to Be Hurt or Killed
Thirty-nine percent of highway contractors reported that motor vehicles had crashed into their construction work zones during the past year, according to the results of a new highway work zone study conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America. Association officials urged summer travel motorists to stay alert while driving through work zones, noting that highway workers are in danger and drivers and passengers face an even higher risk of being hurt or killed in work zone crashes.
Forty-four percent of contractors who reported work zone crashes on their projects said that motor vehicle operators or passengers were injured, and 12 percent of those crashes involved a driver or passenger fatality. Highway work zone crashes also pose a significant risk for construction workers. 18 percent of work zone crashes injure construction workers and 6 percent of those crashes kill them.
The work zone safety study was based on a nationwide survey of over 800 highway construction firms. Click here to view the national, regional and state highway construction zone survey results.
