Tuesday, May 19, 2015

GIVE THEM A BREAK: DANGERS INCREASE FOR ROADSIDE WORKERS AS WEATHER WARMS






MAY 12, 2015

BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO

Twice in the past three weeks roadside workers have been injured or killed after being struck by a vehicle, a trend that concerns law enforcement officials as summer heats up and the roads get more crowded with traffic.

The driver of a semi ran into a parked Asplundh tree trimming truck Monday afternoon on Ohio 122 in Madison Twp. The Asplundh employee, standing in a crane that hung over the road, suffered minor injuries in the crash, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office.

The accident happened a little more than two weeks after a Duke Energy subcontractor was killed and four others injured when a car rolled through a work zone and crashed into their utility truck. The driver in the April 22 accident on Cox Road in West Chester Twp., Michele R. Schuster, 23, of Cincinnati, is suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol and may have been texting while driving, according to court records and search warrant.

Duke subcontractor Amber Rooks, 24, of Norwood, who was handling traffic in the work zone at the time of the crash, died 11 days after the accident.

The crash remains under investigation and the West Chester Police Department is waiting for lab results before charges can be filed against Schuster, according to Officer Michelle Berling, a spokeswoman for the department.

There were 32,719 fatal accidents on roads in the United States in 2013, and 579 of them occurred in work zone sites, according to the National Work Zone Safety Clearinghouse. In Ohio, there were 989 fatal accidents in 2013, and 20 of them occurred in work zones, the agency reported.

Throughout the U.S., fatalities in construction and maintenance work zones averaged 778 from 1994 through 1999, 1,060 from 2000 through 2006, and 669 from 2007 through 2012, according to the records from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Fatalities in construction and maintenance work zones reached a peak of 1,095 in 2003, declining to 609 in 2012.

Motorists need to use extreme caution while driving through construction zones and when there are lane changes because of workers, said Sgt. Ed Buns, of the Hamilton Police Department. He said driving safely requires “100 percent attention, 100 percent of the time.” He said while driving, motorists must use their eyes, ears, hands and feet all at the same time.

Buns said he has seen a decrease in driver attention because of all the potential distractions in the car. He remember a time when the biggest potential distraction was the driver changing the radio station. Buns said while recently driving on Ohio 127 he saw a driver who had his iPod propped on his steering wheel and the man was typing and driving simultaneously.
 Source: www.journal-news.com