8 Tips for Road Safety in Construction Zones

The Great American Highway is decaying - it's crumbling, a part of the national infrastructure that badly needs a facelift. That said, highway construction zones are popping up everywhere.

Drivers must put up with long delays, lane changes, congestion and ultimately frustration while commuting. And sometimes construction zones are unavoidable, so drivers have to take care, caution and extra time to get to where they're going safely.

Being a safe driver comes with the responsibility to exercise caution, good judgment and put workers first in highway construction zones.

Here are some best practices for entering into and driving through highway construction areas:

• Give yourself adequate time to get where you're going. Ever notice you hit every red light only when you're late?
• Check the traffic patterns on TV, radio or internet websites prior to departure. You may even be able to plan a route around heavy traffic or construction areas.
• Take the time to read the signs. Signs can tell you how fast to go, what lies ahead and when congestion should clear up. they'll also tell you when you've exited the zone.
• Use your headlights even in the daytime. Making your vehicle more visible also helps roadside workers.
• Keep a safe distance. Unexpected stops are prevalant in construction zones and rear-end collisions are commonplace.
• Obey flaggers.
• No texting while driving. Talking on a cell phone, tuning the radio, eating, reading, or other similarly distracting activities can quickly lead to an accident.
• And most of all - SLOW DOWN! Many accidents can be avoided just by going a little slower. This increases your reaction time, and allows workers to more safely maneuver throughout the workzone.

With a little more care and caution, we can lower the risks of injury to roadside workers, and improve our nation's highways for generations to come.

5 States with the Highest Number of Work Zone Fatalities

The 2010 crash fatalities per state have been published by Work Zone Safety. They report that there were a total of 32,885 total crashes in the 50 states (not including Puerto Rico), with 576 crashes in work zones for the year.

Here are the 5 states with the highest number of crashes in work zones:

• Texas – 96 work zone fatalities – 2,902 total = 3.3% work zone crash fatalities
• Georgia - 57 work zone fatalities – 1,187 total = 4.8% work zone crash fatalities
• Florida - 43 work zone fatalities – 2,398 total = 1.7% work zone crash fatalities
• California – 41 work zone fatalities – 2,671 total = 1.5% work zone crash fatalities
• Illinois - 32 work zone fatalities – 895 total = 3.5% work zone crash fatalities

These 5 states represent 251 of the 576 (43.5%) of the total work zone crash fatalities for 2010.

Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii and New Hampshire and North Dakota all reported 0 incidents of work zone related fatalities.

Alaska, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island and Vermont only registered double-digit traffic fatalities not work-zone related.

From 2009 to 2010, there were:

• About 1,000 fewer overall fatalities overall - 33,883 in 2009 and 32,885 in 2010
• About 100 fewer work zone fatalities 680 to 576
• Texas went down from 109 to 96
• Florida – down from 82 to 43
• California – down from 46 to 41
• Georgia – up from 32 to 57
• Illinois – up from 31 to 32

Wikipedia estimates these states will have the largest total populations in 2011: California, Texas, New York, Florida and Illinois.

HiVis Supply wishes you a safe and happy 2012, where work zone fatalities are zero. There is no reason for work zone fatalities, and we believe they can all be prevented by awareness, discipline, slower driving and hi-visibility clothing and safety gear.