National Work Zone Awareness Week is April 11-15, 2022
As the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) continues to rebuild Rhode Island's roads and bridges, it is renewing its message to motorists to reduce their speeds and drive safely in work zones. This week (April 11-15) is National Work Zone Awareness Week.
RIDOT Director Peter Alviti, Jr. and State Police Captain David Bassignani joined officials from the Federal Highway Administration, AAA Northeast, and the New England Laborers' Health and Safety Fund today for a press conference adjacent to a work zone on Taunton Avenue in East Providence. The message was simple and clear – with the dawn of a new construction season, drivers will encounter more work zones. When they do, they need to slow down and move over wherever possible to provide a margin of safety for the men and women working on our roads.
"Thanks to the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, we will significantly ramp up the number of projects we will be doing, with a special emphasis on upgrading poor quality pavement," Director Alviti said. "And with all those projects comes a lot more work zones. We ask that drivers remain alert for construction workers and slow down and drive cautiously when you come upon one. We want every one of our workers to go home at the end of their day."
Across the country, fatal crashes in work zones have steadily increased. In 2015, about 700 people per year were killed. That number rose to more than 850 in 2020. Fortunately, RIDOT has not had any fatalities among its staff or contractors in many years.
A large majority of those killed in work zone crashes, about 85 percent, are not the workers on the road, but the driver or passengers of the vehicle involved in the crash. In Rhode Island there were about 750 work zone-related crashes last year.
In addition to saving lives and reducing serious injuries, reducing work zone crashes helps reduce overall emissions caused by closed lanes and congestion caused by first responders helping those in crashes.
In 2008, Rhode Island passed the "move over" law, which requires drivers to move over a lane when approaching a first responder stopped on the road. In 2014, the law was expanded to include construction and highway maintenance workers. Even if drivers can't change lanes when approaching workers or first responders, the law requires them to slow down and leave as much space as possible between their vehicle and those that are stopped.
"Our Troopers put themselves in harm's way every day to assist motorists and enforce our traffic safety laws. We need our citizens to do their part," said Colonel James M. Manni, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police and Director of the Department of Public Safety. "Today we are reminding Rhode Islanders to slow down and move over when you see an emergency vehicle or are approaching a construction site."
Safety is RIDOT's highest priority, and all work zones are established with careful attention to safety and in coordination with national standards and best practices. RIDOT routinely inspects all work zones on state roads, not only involving the Department's Highway and Bridge Maintenance Division, but those set up by contractors, bridge inspectors and utility companies. This interaction includes making sure work zones are set up correctly with repeat visits to make sure they remain in compliance.
RIDOT plans the timing and duration of work zones to reduce as much as possible the impact to traffic flow and travel time. Additionally, all planned work requiring lane or road closures is posted on RIDOT's website at www.ridot.net/traveladvisories and real-time traffic incident information is available on RIDOT's Twitter feed at www.twitter.com/RIDOTNews.