Efforts Lag at Making Highway Work Zones Safer
 

Through the collective indifference of government and industry, hundreds of people die each year in accidents in work zones.

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as a highway construction worker i agree with this article. there is more the contractors can and should do about pavement drop offs and work zone signs on small one day jobs. however the driving public needs to slow down and pay attention to what they are doing in a work zone and not worry about what we are doing on the highway.

working for a local Natural gas utility I have seen some pretty incredible things on both sides.

Workers that get lazy setting up signage, cones, and proper merge distances.. The biggest thing I see is inattention to the traffic around them.. Cones do not stop vehicles...

But the biggest problem I see is the speed and impatiens of the drivers on the road.. they drive into the coned off construction only to try and merge back before hitting the workers or equipment, exceed the posted normal speed limit, not to mention the construction zone limit, If everyone would just slow down a little everything would flow and everyone will go home with all the body parts they started the day with..

I myself have been hit numerous times by flying cones because people can't keep themselves in a lane..

Best one was a nanny driving the bosses Volvo hit a barricade with her mirror exiting the construction zone she drove through (she was late getting the kids to school) and then the owner of the car sued for the damages to the car...

another good one was an intoxicated (convicted of DUI) hit a stack of plates in the middle of the night that were over barricaded with lighted barricades in a parking lane.. The car in front of her was going to slow and she tried to pass on the right... Tried to sue us.. Thing is she probably would have won if she hadn't been DUI...

So anyone reading out there... PLEASE PLEASE slow down and (yes it has happened) there is no need to smoke out the work crews on the street, we really don't appreciate it..