Work Zone Safety

[cement]

I work in highway construction in Colorado. We take great pains to keep safe work zones, balancing worker safety, impact on the roadway users, and the associated costs both in the capital improvement and the possible delay to the motorists. The following is a link to a story about a truck driver that was let off the hook after blowing thru a work zone at high speed and running over a worker there: outrage

If we can not rely on the judicial system to punish those that break the law, we need to legislate manditory punishment. The other option is to establish criteria for the establishment of a clear zone for workers on active construction sites. Presently, workers are protected by a line of cones that I have seen motorists knock over for fun on more than one occaision. Taking additional lanes as a buffer for safety will have huge impacts on highway capacity, but it may be our only choice.

 

[Guest]

^^^ That's absolutely appalling!

In my line of work not only do we preach safety first but we are constantly re-evaluating work and site conditions to ensure the safest possible environment for everyone.

In my mind if you cannot control the work site by granting a berth for the public, then they will need to suffer the inconveniences so that you may keep your work crew safe. :2cents:

On a separate note, the CDOT gentleman in the news story wouldn't have any luck if it weren't for bad luck :mellow:

JR

 

[snickerd3]

Illinois Work Zone saftey has started to take hold. They bought photo enforcement vans for the work zones that are moved throughout the state. $375 ticket first time and $1000 for repeats. If you hit a worker it is like $10,000 fine and license suspension (90 days to 2 yrs) ...you kill a worker and it is a min of 3 yrs in jail up to 28 years. I've noticed at least in central Illinois the cones are used only in short spanned projects. If it is anything that is going to take more than a few days they break out the concrete barriers.

 

[Dleg]

Geez, that is outrageous. And then the guy gets shot in his own home by a burgler three months after getting out of the hospital? I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that guy in a lightning storm...

 

[Jennifer Price]

When I worked as a PM for construction jobs in Florida, we had many problems where people did not care at all about work zones (which is really scary on the interstate).

In West Palm, I-95 seems to always be under construction. A guy was driving through the work zone, under the influence of drugs and alcohol and hit a barrier. His car was launched and landed upside-down on a convertible with a family in it. The family died and their relatives sued the FDOT. I am not sure what the final outcome of it was but I remember hearing talk that they would be compensated from the FDOT. Their argument was the work zone wasn't safe (?!?).

Having worked road construction, I have a lot more respect for work zones than I used to. I just remember the feeling of the force of air from trucks blowing through my site at 80 mph. It was still a frightening thing even with the concrete barrier walls seperating us.