By: Ken Dixon
Source: The Middletown Press, Conn. (TNS)
Apr. 21—MERIDEN — Shari DiDomenico wiped away tears on Monday morning as she recalled the tragic death last year of her 26-year-old son Andrew, a state Department of Transportation road maintenance worker who was struck by an alleged drunken driver on Interstate-91 in Wallingford.
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She stood on a dirt construction site before about 100 neon-vested and hard-hatted DOT workers, highlighting the theme for National Work Zone Awareness Week as nearby traffic whizzed by on I-91. She cried a little, recalling that morning of June 28. By 9:15 a.m., she and her husband Sal got word that Andrew DiDomenico was dead, struck while picking up litter for a grass-mowing detail.
“We had no idea that it would be the last time that we would see his face or hear his voice,” DiDomenico said of that morning. “Our lives were shattered in an instant. No family should endure this kind of loss. No parent should have to bury their child because someone made a choice to drive recklessly or impaired through a work zone. Andrew was simply doing his job, helping to maintain and improve the roads that we all use every day. He deserved to be protected while doing that work. All roadside workers do. We must do more to protect those who work on our highways and roads.”
The DiDomenicos have been joining advocates pushing the General Assembly for tougher penalties for motorists caught speeding through work zones or ignoring warning signs. “We need stronger enforcement, better driver education, especially for new drivers and a serious look at what additional safety measures could be implemented to help prevent tragedies like this from happening again, because this was a preventable tragedy,” she said. “Our son had his whole life ahead of him, yet one driver made a bad decision.”
Top state officials including Gov. Ned Lamont, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and DOT Commissioner Garrett Eucalitto joined workers, law enforcement officials and a federal transportation representative in underscoring the importance of this year’s theme, which is “Respect the zone so we all get home.”
During a news conference in the shadow of recently erected elevated highway platforms in the $500 million I-91/I-691/Route 15 interchange project, Eucalitto pointed out the traffic and the nearly around-the-clock work of DOT crews and contractors. “He worked hard every day, taking the opportunity to learn something new,” Eucalitto said of DiDomenico. “He should still be with us here today if not for a reckless driver through a work zone.”
Eucalitto said that on average, there is one work zone crash in Connecticut every 40 hours. “Almost every day we are seeing crashes in our work zones,” he said. “It happens, sadly because drivers don’t obey the orange,” he said. The alleged operator of the vehicle that killed DiDomenico, Denise Lucibello of East Haven, remains in jail pending a pre-trial hearing Friday in Meriden Superior Court on charges of manslaughter and operating under the influence.
Eucalitto cited recent statistics that indicated since 2023, 2,000 work zone crashes and six fatalities occurred in Connecticut work zones. This calendar year, there have been 61 such crashes. He said that the trial program of work zone speed cameras proved highly effective, indicating that state motorists understand there are consequences. He expects more construction zone cameras to be installed later this year.
Recently, state lawmakers have voiced support for speed cameras throughout highways and a pending bill would support a study of the issue.
“Safety isn’t seasonal,” said Brad Oneglia, vice president of O&G Industries, a chief contractor for the three-part I-91/I-691/Route 15 project, aimed at handling traffic transition among the three highways. “It’s a shared duty and it begins with a commitment to make sure than every single worker makes it home. Work zones are more than just orange barrels and caution signs. There where our friends, our family members and our neighbors go to earn a living, often just feet from speeding vehicles.”
“These kinds of safety violations have to be stopped,” Blumenthal said. “We’re here for a call to action and it’s an action about enforcement, about voluntary compliance with the law.” He remembered a letter that Shari DiDomenico wrote to him after Andrew’s death, in which she hoped that something greater would come from her son’s death. “With stronger enforcement we can make ‘slow down, move over’ more than just a slogan or a mantra. That’s what it requires: simple moral clarity.”
“We’ve got all these amazing men and women who are working their heart out every day to make our roads just a little bit safer for each and every one of you,” Lamont said. “They’re wearing their safety vest and they’re wearing their hard hat and that’s not enough. These are all people just like us. This is a brother, a sister, a father, a daughter, just out there doing their job. I need each and every one of you to remember what your responsibilities are behind the wheel and make sure that Andrew and these other deaths mean something and don’t happen again.”
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