Workers face dangerous situations

By Don Weber
Special to the Coastal Point

As the weather warms up and construction activities on highways becomes more commonplace, DelDOT would like to take this time to bring awareness to work zone safety. Officially, the week of April 3-9 was National Workzone Awareness Safety Week, and DelDOT conducted its own awareness campaign. But it’s an issue of such great concern that we want the message to be repeated throughout the year.

The reason is for the men and women working hard to do a dangerous job. Their stories are frightening, and here are a few that have been relayed to me:

• Bill Stewart, a civil engineer in DelDOT Pavement Management: “In addition to monitoring the work being performed, I find myself constantly looking over my shoulder at passing traffic. The causes of crashes I have witnessed ranged from inattentive driving to impaired driving, and the memories of these work zone crashes are forever sobering.”

• Donna Hardy, DelDOT’s Safety Programs Engineer in the Traffic division: “At any given time 20 percent of roadways are under construction of some type, so when they encounter work, it doesn’t raise concerns to the driver. That’s when bad things happen. What we want to focus on is when work zones are encountered, drivers must pay attention not only for their own safety but for the safety of the workers too.”

• Joe Watkinson, DelDOT equipment operator IV: “I was filling cracks in the pavement on (Route) 113 and as I was getting up and turning around, a safety cone hit me in the chest. Next thing I know a car races past within inches of me, loses control and hits a telephone pole. Ithappened so fast, I wouldn’t have had time to move if I wanted to.”

• Tom Murray, DelDOT equipment operator III: “I can still see the driver talking away on her cell phone even as she hit our guy. I always think about that when I’m out there in the work zone. All we ask is that people give us the same respect they would give to anyone’s work space.”

• Len Brooks, Safety Director at George & Lynch: “It was 4 a.m. and I was pulling up barrels when I looked up and saw a vehicle speeding towards me. Somehow it missed me by only inches, but in a situation like that even if there is time to react, where do you go? I couldn’t do anything, and to this day that scene plays out in my mind like it was yesterday. We have families and people that love us. We ask drivers respect us, slow down and pay attention.”

Workzone safety is not just about protecting the workers; it is also about protecting motorists and motorists driving through them. In fact, four out of five work zone fatalities are motorists.

We look to this campaign to also kickoff several workzone initiatives we are undertaking this year. We will place additional emphasis on the design, construction, maintenance, and enforcement in work zones. We will also soon be releasing for comments a draft update to the Workzone Traffic Control Manual. We are actively working on policies and guidelines that address increased requirements from Federal Highway Administration.

Finally, with the implementation of the TRACS accident reporting system statewide, we will be able to better track the statistics of crashes in our workzones.

But that is just the start. We ask that our partners in construction, maintenance and utility companies redouble their efforts to ensure that proper work zones are established. Likewise, we ask that motorists use caution as they drive through work zones.

Thank you for hearing us out.

Don Weber is chief traffic engineer, Delaware Department of Transportation