Last week the Associated General Contractors of
America released a survey of its members on fatal crashes in highway construction
zones. The results of the AGC survey are dramatically at odds with fatality
figures put out by US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood. Secretary LaHood
says construction zone crash deaths only involve construction workers 10% to
15% of the time, while the fatality is to a driver or passenger involved in the
crash 85% to 90% of the time.
Two thirds of the contractors responding to the AGC
survey reported their construction zones had experienced a fatal crash in the
last 12 months, and a fifth of those reporting crashes said one of their workers
was killed in the collision. The AGC survey concludes that construction zone
crashes involve the death of a construction worker 18% of the time, while a
driver or passenger is killed in the crash only 15% of the time. The other two
thirds of the crashes in work zones are non-fatal.
Either way, there are far too many work zone
deaths. Slow down when you see those orange barrels, people!
