Speeding Drivers can Hurt Road Work Crews

Work crews are vital to Florida's safety and economy, repairing roads so that drivers do not suffer bumpy rides. However, work crews face a serious danger drivers on the road. If you speed or drive aggressively, you are endangering more than yourself or your passengers. You might also be putting a road worker at risk of a serious injury, including death.

Increasing Danger in Work Zones

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), there were a little over 96,000 crashes in work zones in 2015. This number represented a nearly 8% increase over the number of accidents the year before. Work zone crashes have continued to rise since reaching a low in 2013 of about 68,000 crashes.

These numbers are staggering. According to the FHWA, 2015 saw:

A work zone crash every 5.4 minutes
70 crashes resulting in at least one injury every single day
12 work zone crashes causing at least one fatality every single week

Although most fatalities involved drivers or their passengers, workers are still at risk. For example, worksite fatalities at road construction sites made up 1.5-3% of all workplace fatalities each year. Fortunately, the number of fatalities for road workers have declined since reaching peaks in 2005.

Reduced Reaction Times

Speeding drivers are such a danger because their speed reduces their ability to stop or swerve in time to avoid work crews. Also, increased speed also increases the amount of energy that the worker will absorb if they are struck directly by the vehicle.

A study out of Australia illustrates how speeding can reduce the ability to brake with sufficient time to avoid hitting someone. According to the example, two cars are traveling down the road. Car 1, which is traveling at 50 kilometers an hour (km/h) is overtaken by Car 2, traveling at 60 km/h. About 29 meters away, a child on a bicycle emerges into the street.

If both drivers see the child at the same time and take 1.2 seconds to hit the brakes, then Car 1 will be able to stop in enough time to avoid striking the child. However, Car 2, going a mere 10 km/h faster than Car 1, will not be able to stop in time. Instead, he will plow into the child going 44 km/h, which is fast enough to severely injure or even kill the child.

That small amount of excess speed can prevent a vehicle from stopping in enough time to avoid a collision. The same principle applies if the vehicles were trying to swerve. The vehicle going too fast will have less time to swerve to avoid hitting the person in the road.

Furthermore, vehicles are harder to control the faster they travel, so you increase the likelihood of losing control in a work zone by going too fast.

Be on the Lookout for Road Crews

Even if you are not speeding, you still might strike a road worker if you are not paying sufficient attention while driving. To increase your awareness, remember the following:

Put your phone away. This is the easiest thing you can do to improve your attentiveness. If you need to read email, send a text, or make a phone call, then pull over to the side of the road with your vehicle in park. Making even a brief phone call can distract you enough that you never see the road worker standing on the shoulder of the road.
Keep your eyes on the road. It only takes a split second to suddenly come upon a worker and strike them. Ask a passenger to change the radio channel or to get something out of the glove compartment for you.
Look for signs. Construction zones should be well marked with cones or flaggers. Reduce your speed as you enter a construction zone.
Give workers adequate room. If you see a road worker, pull over so that you can avoid them, even if this means you drive close to the center line for a brief period of time.

Looking out for construction zones not only protects road workers, but it increases your safety. Many drivers and passengers are seriously injured or killed when they collide with a dump truck or crane in a work zone. The faster you are going, the greater the likelihood that you will lose collide and suffer serious injuries. To protect yourself, drive safe!

Tragedy on Florida's Roads

Unfortunately, many road workers have been killed over the past few years on Florida's roads. A sampling of the injuries include:

A road worker was killed on Highway 29 in April 2018 when a driver drifted onto the shoulder. The worker was an employee of Broadspectrum, which contracts with the state.
A road worker was struck and killed by a cement truck on Interstate 95 in early 2017. It was the second fatal crash in three weeks at that construction zone.
Two road workers were struck in a hit-and-run in 2013 while they were striping a crosswalk in Tampa. One worker was hospitalized, although there were no fatalities.

These are only some of the horrifying accidents that happen every month in construction zones on Florida's roads. By speeding, you increase the risk of causing another injury or fatal crash.