{"id":153094,"date":"2022-04-12T03:36:03","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T08:36:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=153094"},"modified":"2022-04-12T03:36:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T08:36:39","slug":"odot-please-slow-down-in-work-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2022\/04\/12\/odot-please-slow-down-in-work-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"ODOT: please slow down in work zones"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VW independent staff and submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

BOWLING GREEN — An important week for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is National Work Zone Awareness Week, which runs all this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is when we show an extra level of support for those who maintain the highways, who work alongside their coworkers performing needed work under significant risk, and who truly serve the public through their jobs,\u201d Pat McColley, ODOT District 2 deputy director said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Motorists should be extra cautious in all road construction work zones. Photo provided<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

National Work Zone Awareness Week first launched in 1997 as a public awareness campaign to help everyone understand they play a role in keeping motorists and roadway workers safe. This year\u2019s theme is \u201cWork Zones are a Sign to Slow Down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDriving in a work zone requires your undivided attention,\u201d Governor Mike DeWine said. \u201cThe men and women who work hard each day to ensure that we have safe roads and bridges in good condition deserve to make it home safely to their family at the end of the day. Drivers can protect themselves and our workers simply by slowing down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, there were 4,796 crashes in Ohio work zones, 35 percent of them occurred with workers present. These crashes resulted in 1,759 injuries and 29 deaths. Of those, 20 workers were injured and one was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ODOT workers, vehicles, and equipment were hit 154 times last year, resulting in five injuries. Already this year, ODOT crews have been hit more than 70 times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Locally, ODOT crews in northwest Ohio were struck nine times in 2021 while performing work related to highway maintenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe emphasize repeatedly to our employees to work safely every day, to be on watch for each other, and to keep our work zones safe for motorists passing through,\u201d Chris Hughes, ODOT District 1 deputy director said. \u201cWe rely on those we share the road with to drive as safely as possible all the time, but especially through work zones,\u201d he said.
\u201cSpeed and distracted driving are two of the biggest issues we see in our work zones,\u201d ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks said. \u201cAsk any ODOT worker and they likely have a \u2018close call\u2019 story to tell. That\u2019s unacceptable. Move over, slow down, and above all pay attention when you\u2019re on the road. The lives of our men and women depend on it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are more work zone statistics:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • In 2021, the Ohio State Highway Patrol issued 6,015 citations in work zones with 41% being more than 20 mph over the posted speed limit. Ohio law requires you to move over a lane for any roadside worker or vehicle with flashing lights. If you cannot safely move over, you\u2019re required to slow down. <\/li>
  • There have been 162 ODOT workers killed on the job, the last being John Pasko who was hit on I-680 in Mahoning County on March 15, 2018. <\/li>
  • Nationally, work zone deaths have risen for five of the past six years. What many fail to recognize is the vast majority of people killed in work zone crashes are motorists and their passengers. <\/li>
  • In 2020, 117 of the 857 fatalities were work zone workers, making it all the more important for drivers to slow down and stay focused while approaching and passing through a roadway work zone.<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    VW independent staff and submitted information BOWLING GREEN — An important week for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is National Work Zone Awareness Week, which runs all this week. \u201cThis is when we show an extra level of support for those who maintain the highways, who work alongside their coworkers performing needed work under […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 06:07:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}