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The 24 -year -old James Harper construction worker was murdered when a tractor-remolc hit him On April 15, as he filled a hole at Interstate 77 between the city of Kanawha and Marmet, Virginia in the west.
Since then, the driver has been arrested and accused of killing vehicles, according to WSAZ 3.
One week since his death, jobs across the country and public and private organizations are hosting activities this week to raise awareness of safety around workers like him, as Monday marks the beginning of the Security Safety Week in the 2025 National Working Area.
The effort aims to highlight motorway work areas to improve safety for construction workers and motorists. The activities include a social media blitz, which is orange to raise awareness and a moment of silence for those who have died in falls in the fatal work area. This year, the American Traffic Safety Services Association Choose the subject “Respect the area, so we all get home”.
“It is important to understand the meaning of this year’s topic,” said ATSSA President and CEO, Stacy Tetschner, in a statement. “It reflects the sad reality that most people killed in the work zone accidents are drivers and their passengers. That is why it is essential to leave all the distractions, slow down and stay alert when approaching and passing through a road work area.”
In fact, the data indicate that motorists are in greater danger of death than workers or pedestrians. In 2022, there were 891 fatalities in the total work area, according to the Security Information Center of the National Working Area. Of these, 136, or about 15%, were workers or pedestrians.
And it is a common problem. Around Two -thirds of contractors experienced a car accident In a motorway work area in 2024, according to a motorway contractor survey by the General Associated Contractors of America and the HCSS construction software firm.
A little more than a third of the respondents did not report collisions in the work areas, while 33% said they had treated five or more.
Political action
AGC survey respondents also said that they want state officials to act, and most of them said that the states in which they work do not have sufficient penalties to deter renexally driving motorists through work areas.
ATSSA and National Aschalt Pavement Association are trying to change it, announcing on April 17 they will direct a coalition to direct Working area safety on the nearby federal road bill.
“During the last year, consciousness and education have really been the central point in our mountain efforts, making the work area work more important for members of the House (transport and infrastructure),” said Mitch Baldwin, director of Napa, government affairs, Mitch Baldwin.
The safety contingency funds of the work area were originally included in the Investment Law on Infrastructure and Work, aimed at giving contractors to access federal money to make work areas more safe. But the launch of the additional federal quota has been slow, Baldwin said in the statement, with only three participating states, a statistic that road safety organizations expect to address.
Baldwin said one of the goals is to establish a federal working group on work area safety to bring to the table all these relevant ideas and stakeholders.
“We want everyone on the road to get home safely,” said Tetschner.
