WORK ZONE SAFETY Work zones are an essential component of maintaining the roads of El Paso County. Work Zones are areas of roadwork activities that include workers, moving vehicles, road closures, and detours. The duration of work zones varies depending on the project. Although work zones are year-round, they are most common in the summer. Work zones help separate construction and maintenance activities from traffic, ensuring the safety of both road users and workers. The presence of workers and the movement of work vehicles, coupled with changes in traffic patterns, detours, and closures, increase the risks of crashes, injuries, and fatalities in work zones. Statistics in the United States, according to the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse and Federal Highway Administration: Between 2019 and 2020, fatal crashes in work zones increased by 1.4 percent. In 2020, there were an estimated 102,000 work zone crashes. In 2020, there were 774 work zone fatal crashes resulting in 857deaths – 117 of which were workers. Most work zone crashes are rear-ended collisions. Major contributing factors in work zone crashes include distracted driving, speeding, failure to yield to the right-ofway and following too closely.
PG 6
