CHARLESTON, W.Va. –One week after a West Virginia Turnpike worker was struck and killed while patching a hole on the highway, the West Virginia Division of Highways and other highway safety officials are coming together to emphasize the importance of work zone safety.
A press conference was held Monday on state capitol grounds by the DOH on the first day of Work Zone Safety week. This was in remembrance of James Harper, 24, who was struck by a tractor trailer driver on Interstate 77, who swerved to miss a dump truck with asphalt and ended up striking Harper with his trailer.
WV Transportation Secretary Todd Rumbaugh said just last year there were 786 work zone crashes reported, which resulted in 263 injuries and 7 fatalities.
Rumbaugh says that Work Zone Safety shouldn’t be talked about for one week or one month, it should go beyond that.
“It cannot wait until each April and use our clever phrases and wear orange for a week or a month, it must turn into a behavior, an everyday mindset,” he said.
Randall Randolph, a DOH worker who was struck by a truck driver and suffered from a broken femur, a broken arm, and a separated shoulder and is still recovering to this day, three months later. He was doing emergency pothole work in January in Mason County when he was struck by a driver who, according to a crew member with Randolph, appeared to not be slowing down.
Randolph says that what you choose to do in a work zone can be life changing for anyone involved in an accident such as in his case and Harper’s.
“Like I said a work zone’s temporary, but you know what you can change while going through a work zone is life long,” he said. “You can take a mom, or a dad, a family member away from somebody that you’re never going to see again.”
Rumbaugh agreed saying that motorists need to eliminate any distractions while driving.
“You know again, distracted driving in really bad in the state, we see more and more folks staying on the phone and not paying attention, slow down, so that you can go home, so our workers can go home,” he said.
Randolph said that something like being hit in a work zone can happen in a split second whenever someone is distracted and not paying attention.
“My flagger warned me ahead of time in a split second, and I took off running, I was approximately 37 feet off the road,” Randolph said. “The driver came about within five yards of the back of the pickup truck, and besides hitting the truck, he swerved hard, and he hit me.”
One of the things Rumbaugh emphasized was making sure that motorists slow down even if they don’t see a worker in the zone.
He said they could be working on the ground behind a barrier or behind construction cones.
“They’re out there somewhere, so they need to be cautious to even slow down even if they don’t see anybody out there, it’s best for them and for the workers,” Rumbaugh said.
Officials gave tips to motorists for traveling safely in a work zone:
– Stay alert
– Follow Signs
– Expect the unexpected
– Pay attention
– Be patient
– Don’t speed
– Don’t drink and drive
– Give space