More than half (55 percent) of highway contractors report that motor vehicles had crashed into their construction work zones during the past year, putting motorists and workers at risk, according to the results of a new highway work zone study conducted by the Associated General Contractors of America and HCSS.
Association officials called on state and local leaders to enact new enforcement and education measures to improve work zone safety.
“Elected and appointed officials are not doing enough to protect workers and motorists in highway work zones,” said Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist and author of the survey. “Our transportation networks may be invaluable, but the lives of workers and motorists are priceless.”
Content provide by AGC. Over 900 contractors completed the survey. Click here to view the survey results.According to the survey results, motorists are in even greater danger from highway work zone crashes than construction workers, Simonson said. Over one-quarter (28 percent) of contractors participating in the survey experienced crashes that resulted in injury to construction workers. But more than twice as many firms—59 percent—reported experiencing a crash in which drivers or passengers were injured.
Work zone crashes also are twice as likely to result in fatalities to drivers or passengers as construction workers. One in 10 (8 percent) of contractors in the survey report that construction workers were killed in work zone crashes, and 16 percent of survey respondents report drivers or passengers were killed in those crashes.
“In many cases, vehicle speeding contributes to these crashes in work zones,” said Steve McGough, president/CEO of HCSS. “Utilizing speed cameras with a zero-tolerance policy would go a long way to protect the traveling public and our workforce.”
Nearly all (97 percent) contractors report that highway work zones are either as dangerous, or more dangerous, than they were a year ago. Simonson said that more than half of contractors want automatic ticketing for speeding in work zones. Four of five (79 percent) want a greater police presence, and 65 percent want stricter enforcement. Oklahoma just became the first state to require completing a work zone safety course as a precondition for getting a driver’s license, according to Simonson.
The association wants every state to require new drivers to complete a work zone safety course, deploy more police to work zones, authorize speed cameras in those zones and set tougher penalties, like fines and points, for unsafe work zone driving. “Nobody should die because our laws fail to penalize unsafe operations in work zones in the same way they punish drunk driving and stigmatize not using a seat belt,” Simonson said.
Source: AGC
