National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) is an annual spring campaign held across the country to encourage safe driving through roadway work zones. The message is simple: drive attentively and respect the various road signs and workers present building critical infrastructure for our nation.
It’s an important initiative that reminds us that everyone has a role to play in work zone safety. As we advocate for these safety measures, we also share stories from our own B&K team who navigate these risks daily.
We asked John Zometsky, a Foreman with over 14 years in highway construction, if he has ever been involved in any work zone accidents: “The first was on Highway 376 near the airport. Honestly, I don’t know how I noticed, but I just caught a glimpse of headlights right at the last second and I jumped. We were working with our old drilling machine at the time. He hit the machine and the machine hit me and took me down the road. Thankfully, I avoided any serious injury. The second one (I feel there’s more than one, but the second big one) was on Highway 309. We were wrapping up for the day and it was starting to rain. We were trying to get everything cleared off because it was getting darker with the rain coming down, and then this guy just came through the work zone, hit all of the cones, and rear-ended me. He knocked my truck into the next truck up. We did not see him coming at all. Luckily, no one was hurt. Turns out the person was intoxicated. I had to get checked out at the hospital both of those times, but luckily it was just aches.”
Next, we asked Phil Lambing, a Union Laborer, some of the things he has seen motorists do in work zones that concern him. “Impaired drivers and oblivious drivers are two big issues as far as motorists go. Distracted driving is huge. People on their cell phones, people not paying attention. My biggest fear is the drunk drivers, distracted drivers, and even impatient ones. Because we can control a lot of things on the job site as far as construction safety goes, but we have no control over other people. That’s a variable that none of us can manage. We get drivers that come into our work zones way too often.”
Phil says if he could say anything to any motorists out there, it would be to, “Put your phone down and slow down. It’s easy to speed through our work zones, or not pay attention to the ‘slow down’ signs or be distracted going about your business. We all want to get home to our families at the end of the day.”
