The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is joining other state transportation agencies and the Federal Highway Administration to promote National Work Zone Awareness Week.
A news release says it’s an effort to prevent crashes, injuries and fatalities in work zones of all kinds – highway construction and maintenance workers, mowing contractors, utility crews, brush cutters and tree trimmers.
According to federal records, one person is killed every 13 hours and one is injured every 13 minutes in a work zone. But four out of five are motorists, not workers.
Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray says, “It often comes as a surprise to learn that in Kentucky, and in fact nationally, most work zone victims are motorists, not the workers. We want drivers to know they, too, have a vested interest in work zone safety.”
In Kentucky in 2020, there were 905 work zone crashes, 228 injuries and six fatalities. All of those killed were motorists.