Michigan’s highway construction zones are safer today than they’ve been in the last ten years. A safety coalition is working to help protect freeway construction workers. Working close to a busy highway can be unnerving, but today’s road construction workers are safer now than they’ve been in years.

Kirk Steudle, MDOT Director: “We’ve reduced fatalities by 20% with a simple sign.”

The Michigan “give ‘em a break” safety coalition announced that the number of crashes, injuries and deaths in highway work zones went down by 20% last year. That’s more than 1,300 fewer accidents. State police say the addition of three simple words, “where workers present,” to work zone speed limit signs, has made the difference.

Col. Peter Munoz, Michigan State Police: “It was 45 through construction zones, even when the workers weren’t there. Now we’re trying to get the word to the public that, if there’s no activity present, you don’t have to drive 45 through there.”

Thanks to drivers heeding the message of construction zone signs, the number of work-area crashes is the lowest it has been in a decade. Officers say there is still plenty of work to be done.

Col. Peter Munoz: “There’s a long way to go toward that. I would say that I expect the trend to continue in this fashion. People aren’t looking to break the law, they’d like to obey it, and as we get that message out there, things will improve.”

And construction workers support that message. They say the campaign has helped make jobs safer.

Tom Harris, Construction Worker: “More barrels, more signs, more awareness, more spots on TV, that sort of thing has helped because people realize what’s going on and just make it a safer work zone.”

MDOT says this year’s construction schedule will be the busiest Michigan has ever seen, which means drivers should pay extra attention as they pass the orange barrels.

Information from: www.wlns.com

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 5th, 2007 at 1:39 am and is filed under General News. Tags: Barrel, construction, Kirk Steudle, MDOT, Michigan, Michigan State Police, Orange, Peter Munoz, Public, State police, Tom Harris. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.