State DOT remembers fallen road workers

UNION GAP, Wash. -- Anyone passing the Washington State Department of Transportation's regional headquarters in Union Gap today can expect to see 56 bright-orange vests hanging from the front of the building.

It's part of the department's statewide "Work Zone Memorial" to recognize its more than 5,000 workers and the thousands of city, county and contractor crews who work on the state's roadways.

For the people inside the building, the vests represent something poignant and painful --
the 56 state transportation employees who have lost their lives in work zones.

The vests will serve as a reminder of the importance of work zone safety and are expected to come down by week's end.

Across the state, the DOT's various regions are following a "Go Orange" theme, according to department spokesman Mike Westbay. The agency has changed the colors on its Web site (wsdot.wa.gov) from green to orange for the week, and the Olympia headquarters has its main entrance draped in orange fabric.

A local employee came up with the regional office's idea of hanging the vests to draw attention to the individuals lost in the line of duty. Ten of the 56 died in the South Central Region -- the most recent in 1982 -- and the varied causes are a stark reminder of the risks inherent in road construction. The South Central Region is an eight-county region spanning from as far west as Kittitas and Yakima counties to the state's eastern border.

Two of the workers were run over by trucks. Another was surveying with a transit when he was struck by a driver who had sneezed and lost control of his car. Two were killed in a rockslide on Snoqualmie Pass. One was checking flood damage when he was struck by a wall of water that swept his truck down a dry wash.

The DOT hasn't had a worker fatality since 2002, but four contract workers have died in the past two years working on DOT projects. Their names are being submitted for inclusion on the National Work Zone Memorial Wall at the Olympia headquarters.

As dangerous as work zones can be for the workers, though, a moment's inattention can be even more deadly for drivers.

"Most often, the people hurt in a work-zone collision are the drivers, not the workers," Westbay said. "Unfortunately, we've had our workers hurt and killed, too. But for people on the highways, it's in their best interest to be careful (in work zones), because they're the ones who usually get hurt."

Of about 10,500 work-zone collisions reported between 2000 and 2008, more than 6,000 resulted in injury, including 59 fatalities. One way the department is trying to reduce work-zone speeds is an automatic traffic safety camera. The cameras are similar to red light cameras in that they will document your speed, photograph your license plate number and mail you a citation.