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P.O. Box 600
Trenton, NJ
Contact: Steve Schapiro
Daniel Triana
Judy Drucker
609-530-4280
RELEASE: April 13, 2018
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National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week reminds motorists to exercise extra caution when driving through work zones
(Trenton) - New Jersey transportation officials (NJDOT) today highlighted National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week, April 9-13, by reminding motorists that their safety risks and responsibilities increase with the beginning of the roadway construction season.
“Safety must always be our highest priority, but we need to be particularly mindful when the pace of highway construction increases, as it does every spring,” NJDOT Acting Commissioner Diane Gutierrez-Scaccetti said. “While National Work Zone Safety Awareness Week may be ending, practicing safe driving through work zones should never end. Maintaining the posted speed limit, being courteous to those trying to merge into a lane and driving without distractions all help ensure safe passage through a work zone.”
The slogan for this year’s national awareness program is “Work Zone Safety: Everybody’s Responsibility,” reminding motorists to slow down and be extra alert when they see cones and barrels in or near travel lanes.
Over the course of the week, state Departments of Transportation across the country took to social media, including NJDOT on our Facebook page, to remind motorists to exercise caution while driving around work zones. To help keep workers and first responders safe, New Jersey’s Move Over Law requires drivers to slow down and change lanes when driving past stopped emergency or safety vehicles on the side of the road.
Nationwide, there were 96,626 crashes in work zones in 2016, resulting in 765 fatalities including 143 worker deaths. Of those 765 work zone fatalities nationwide in 2016, two occurred in New Jersey. In 2017, there were six work zone fatalities in New Jersey.
NJDOT, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the South Jersey Transportation Authority are using Dynamic Message Signs to remind motorists to always exercise extra care while traveling through work zones. Among the messages will be, “Protect our workers: slow down in work zones.”
Click here for more information on work zone safety and the Move Over Law. Motorists are encouraged to check NJDOT's traffic information website www.511nj.org for real-time travel information and for NJDOT news follow us on Twitter @NJDOT_info or on NJDOT’s Facebook page.INSERT TEXT HERE
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