Dive Brief:

• When contractors who do highway projects were asked about the prevalence of motor vehicle crashes in work zones, 45% of them said their crews had experienced crashes in the previous 12 months.
• There is not a lot of comfort in the fact that such accidents are more dangerous for the people in the vehicles than for the workers – 43% of crashes hurt motorists and 16% killed them, while 20% hurt workers and 6% killed people on the job.
• A quarter of the contractors surveyed said job-site crashes slowed projects because work had to be suspended for a time.

Dive Insight:

AGC put out the study to coincide with the beginning of Work Zone Awareness Week. The challenge is to make drivers more aware. Two-thirds of the people surveyed said they think tougher laws with stiffer punishments would help send the message.