Date:  Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Contact:
Kelly Stowe, Public Information Officer, (360) 480-3648

TACOMA – It’s the worst nightmare for anyone working on the road – a car or truck barreling at you in a work zone. On southbound I-5 near the Tacoma Dome, it’s happened four times since early Monday morning and it’s an alarming trend.

Summer is WSDOT’s busy construction season. On most state highways, motorists will see the orange signs warning them of a work zone ahead. Within the coned off sections of these work zone are men and women who want to go home at the end of their shifts in the same condition or better than when they clocked on.

Since 1950, 56 WSDOT employees have been killed in work zones. The last fatality occurred on August 12, 2002 when Jake Baarsdon was killed by an impaired driver while mowing alongside Highway 18.

WSDOT asks motorists to slow down and pay close attention when entering a work zone. The life they save may be their own since 99 percent of people killed or injured in work zone collisions are the driver or passenger.

If life-saving isn’t an incentive, perhaps the double traffic fines WSP issues for violations within a work zone will remind people to slow down and pay attention.

For more information on work zone safety, please visit http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Safety/Brake/.

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