In 2015 the Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that there were 135 construction workers that were killed due to roadway accidents. Drivers need to be aware and more cautious when driving through construction areas. Distracted drivers are over thirty times more likely to be responsible for causing an accident in work zone than non-distracted drivers.
Distracted Driving and Work Zones
Most of have heard and know that distracted driving is a serious problem. It can be particularly dangerous when a driver is distracted when going through a work zone. Often workers are in close proximity to the road.
When a motorist drive through work zones at high speeds and they are not focused on their surrounds it put road workers at serious risk. Often the speed at which a driver goes through a construction area, if an accident occurs it is often very serious and unfortunately, often fatal.
With everyone attached to smartphones, they have become a common cause of distracted driving with people texting while driving, however, that is not the only culprit. Talking on the phone, reaching for something in on the floor or backseat, interacting with another passenger or doing anything that can take your eyes off the road are examples of distracted driving.
The Federal Highway Administration and other transportation agencies have begun to implement various remedies to encourage a driver to be less distracted. They include improved public education, stricter laws against texting and driving and other policies.
In a Driver Study
There was a study done by the University of Missouri-Columbia, that studies driver behaviors prior to a crash. The study data provided information about several factors that contributed to crashes that include the driver’s behavior, the vehicle, road conditions, environmental factors. They were able to reconstruct the events that led up to the accidents.
In order to do this, they used data from the Transportation Research Board’s second Strategic Highway Research Program’s Naturalistic Driving Study. They were able to collect data from over 3,000 motorists that totaled more than 50 million miles of driving in the span from 2006 through 2015. What the researchers were able to see was the driver’s interaction with the road, the vehicle, and the surrounding environment. This data has brought much-needed attention to the driver’s impact and work zone safety.
