{"id":37542,"date":"2013-04-22T06:01:37","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T11:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=37542"},"modified":"2013-04-22T06:01:37","modified_gmt":"2013-04-22T11:01:37","slug":"odot-be-careful-in-construction-zones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2013\/04\/22\/odot-be-careful-in-construction-zones\/","title":{"rendered":"ODOT: Be careful in construction zones"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio Dept. of Transportation news<\/em><\/p>\n

LIMA — It\u2019s a theme that is repeated each year during National Work Zone Safety Week — drive cautiously through construction work zones.<\/p>\n

But there is a special emphasis on work zone safety this construction season as Interstate 75 in Allen County is under construction and will be through 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cWork zone safety is something we emphasize every year. But when you have an important corridor like Interstate 75 undergoing major construction, safety needs to be a special point of emphasis,\u201d said Kirk Slusher, Ohio Department of Transportation District 1 deputy director.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>National Work Zone Safety Week, being observed April 14-21, was highlighted today as representatives of ODOT and the Ohio State Highway Patrol held an event on the Ohio 117\/309 corridor on Lima\u2019s east side where major construction is taking place.<\/p>\n

Discussed at the event was the state\u2019s Quick Clear initiative, a traffic incident management program which aims to protect first responders and motorists in the event of a traffic accident. \u201cThe idea behind Quick Clear is to clear minor accidents out of the travel lanes as quickly as possible to reduce the possibility of secondary crashes and to help protect first responders. And in more serious accidents, keep to a minimum the amount of roadway needed to safely work the scene,\u201d said Lt. Brandt Zemelka with the Ohio State Highway Patrol Lima post.<\/p>\n

Zemelka said it is believed Quick Clear will save lives and reduce injuries by reducing congestion, reducing the exposure that law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services personnel have during traffic incidents, and by reducing the risk of more deadly secondary crashes.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re involved in an accident, the Quick Clear initiative suggests motorists do the following:<\/p>\n

1) Check to see if the driver or any passengers were injured in the automobile accident. <\/strong>Do not hesitate to call \u201c911\u201d for medical help if anyone needs medical attention.<\/p>\n

2) Stay calm and safely get out of the way of traffic. <\/strong>If a vehicle is operable, safely move it to the shoulder. If the vehicle does not work, turn on warning lights. Motorists\u2019 safety is most important.<\/p>\n

3) Call the police if the auto accident involves severe damage, injury or death<\/p>\n

4) Obtain information from all other drivers, including name, address, phone, email and insurance information.<\/p>\n

More people are dying in highway construction work zones as a result of vehicle crashes. In fact, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the number of deaths in construction zones because of vehicle crashes doubled from eight in 2009 to 16 in 2011 in Ohio. Those numbers are the most recent available and include both motorists and construction workers.<\/p>\n

An ODOT analysis revealed that 56,945 vehicle crashes occurred in Ohio work zones from 2003 to 2012. Of those crashes, 20,590 happened when construction workers were present. In fact, a person is more likely to be injured or killed in a work zone on a dry and sunny August afternoon than any other time of year.<\/p>\n

The top causes of work zone crashes are speed, following too closely, failure to control and improper lane changes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ohio Dept. of Transportation news LIMA — It\u2019s a theme that is repeated each year during National Work Zone Safety Week — drive cautiously through construction work zones. But there is a special emphasis on work zone safety this construction season as Interstate 75 in Allen County is under construction and will be through 2016. […]<\/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-37542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-01 16:58:22","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\/37542","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=37542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37542\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}