Celebrate National Work Zone Awareness Week

You may be familiar with the old joke: “There are two seasons throughout the year in Indiana: winter and construction.” It’s the time of year when the orange cones, barrels, and signs begin to appear on Indiana’s roadways. As inconvenient as it may be for drivers, it is important to remember that construction workers are hard at work repairing roads and risking their lives to make them safer to travel.

Construction jobs aren’t easy or particularly safe. While workers and construction companies take great care to reduce risks, driving conditions vary, and anything can happen on the road.

National Work Zone Awareness Week

The Federal Highway Administration, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, American Traffic Safety Services Association, and others have celebrated National Work Zone Awareness Week annually since 1999. Their goal is to put a national focus on safety and mobility in work zones for workers and motorists.

National Work Zone Awareness Week is the first week of every April, as construction season begins in the spring. In 2017, National Work Zone Awareness Week runs from April 3 to April 7. Each state has its own way of celebrating, and the Indiana Department of Transportation will hold a more locally focused Work Zone Safety Awareness Week from April 3 to 8.

Showing Your Support

What can you do to celebrate our construction workers? We suggest wearing orange on Go Orange Day, which falls on April 5 this year. Roadway safety professionals are encouraged to wear orange shirts to advocate for road safety. Others are welcome to do so in solidarity with the workers as well as in support of families of work zone accident victims.

The most important demonstration of support, however, is helping prevent the automobile accidents that injure and kill roadside workers each year. The key message of this event is that drivers should be diligent in acknowledging and protecting the lives of road workers.

Work Zone Driving Tips

To help protect roadside workers, drivers should follow these tips:

• Select an alternate route to avoid construction, and if you can’t, allow yourself extra travel time in your trip
• Avoid distractions such as using a cell phone, eating food, or taking mind-altering substances while driving
• Construction zones affect traffic patterns. Obey the adjusted speed limits, keep an eye out for warning signs, and watch for flaggers redirecting traffic
• Be a calm, patient, and defensive driver, and keep an appropriate distance from other cars

Contact a Construction Site Accident Attorney Today

If you or a loved one have been injured as a result of a construction site accident, you are urged to contact the Indianapolis Construction Site Accident Attorneys of Wilson Kehoe Winingham. The lawyers at WKW can help you get the compensation you deserve. Call 317.920.6400 or fill out an online contact form for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.

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