U.S Averaging Nearly 3 Work Zone Deaths Per Day
“Slow for the Cone Zone” is the theme of the ninth annual National Work Zone Awareness Week, which starts today and will be observed through April 11. A press conference and general media event will take place Tuesday, April 8, at 11:00 a.m. PST on the west steps of the State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., marking the first time in the Week’s history that the national kickoff will take place outside of the Washington, D.C. area.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, the annual number of people killed in motor vehicle crashes in work zones over the last decade has increased 45 percent (up to 1,010 in 2006). On average, from 2002 to 2006, about 15 percent of the fatalities resulting from crashes in work zones were pedestrians, including workers and bicyclists.