No, you didn’t read that wrong. National Work Zone Awareness week which typically occurs in April has been moved up for 2015. This year marks the 16th Anniversary of Nation Work Zone Awareness Week, and the 20th anniversary since the Bristol District created the first internal Work Zone Awareness Week. This years theme is, “Expect the Unexpected.”
Of course VDOT and FHWA are encouraging everyone to participate this week. “To raise National Work Zone Awareness Week to the next level, it takes all of us doing our part by making a commitment to get involved to have our message heard and understood. The more voices we have, the greater impact we have in asking motorists to slow down and drive responsibly through work zones. We all need to play an active role in raising driver awareness about work zones, which should result in increased safety for workers, motorists and pedestrians,” (VDOT website).
There are many ways to participate this year. One of the easiest ways to participate this year is to share the following links on your social media accounts and help spread awareness to friends and family.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVjB7lWlCrI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X86jmP-dY9Q
https://www.workzonesafety.org/news_events/awareness_week/2015
Another way to participate is by wearing orange shirts on Wednesday, ensuring we have proper MOT setups and that when asked, “what is working on the interstate like?”, we take a minute to inform others of the actual hazards and how they can help reduce them instead of just saying, “it’s crazy.” For example, we can remind friends and family of the three S’s to make it through a work zone safely: speed, space and stress. Select a safe speed, manage your space and don’t get stressed. Let them know if they handle these three factors they’ re almost home free.
The “Expect the Unexpected” effort, which is the same theme, used the first year, kicks off March 24 in Northern Virginia at the I-395 and seminary Road VDOT Interchange Project. The key message is to use extra caution in work zones.
Work Zone Safety Tips:
Just because many of us work in work zones, doesn’t mean we don’t need a reminder on how to be safe when traveling through others work zones. Remind to not speed in work zones, obey the posted speed limits and adjust your speed for weather conditions. Speeding is a major cause of work zone crashes.
-Stay alert and expect the unexpected.
-Watch for workers and drive with caution.
-Don’t change lanes unnecessarily or when prohibited.
-Avoid distractions like talking on the phone, changing radio stations or snacking.
-During the day, turn on your headlights so workers and other drivers can see you. At night, trouble spots can be hard to see, and you may have to deal with the glare of work lights.
-Expect delays, especially during peak travel times, and don’t let your frustration allow you to make bad decisions. Plan your trip to allow for construction delays.
-Allow ample space between you and the vehicle in front of you. The most common work zone crash is the rear-end collision, which is almost always caused by inattentive drivers who don’t have enough following distance and who are not prepared for sudden slowdowns and bad drivers.
Anticipate lane shifts and lane closures and obey lane restrictions that limit trucks to specific lanes.
Most importantly – be patient, stay calm and drive defensively. In order to make work zones safer we must all be willing to help in outreach with the general public.