The Associated General Contractors of America reported today that 68 percent of the nation’s highway contractors have had motor vehicles crash into their construction worksite in the last year.
Additionally, 28 percent of contractors reported their workers were injured during those work zone crashes and 18 percent had at least one construction workers killed during those crashes. “Since construction workers don’t get the option of wearing seat belts, they are more likely killed in a work zone crash than motorists are,” says Tom Brown, the chair of the AGC’s national highway and transportation division.
More than 50 percent of those crashes also injured the occupants of the vehicles involved and 15 percent of those killed the drivers or occupants. The study was based on a nationwide survey of nearly 400 highway construction firms.
