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Construction zone accidents, fatalities on rise; drivers oblivious despite big fines Few motorists heed reduced speed zone in highway work areas Wednesday, August 09, 2000 By Jon Schmitz, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Bright orange signs and electronic warnings.
Menacing concrete barriers and barrels that pinch traffic into narrow lanes.
Bulldozers, dump trucks and other heavy equipment, lurching in and out of traffic.
The threat of doubled speeding fines.
Billboards, lettered in a kid's scrawl, saying "My daddy [or mommy] works here."
None of it slows us down.
A recent spot check by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and KDKA-TV news revealed that more than half the vehicles passing through a construction zone on Interstate 79 in Washington County were speeding, and about one-fourth were doing 60 mph or more in the posted 50-mph zone.
Trucks roared through the zone, slowing only at the sight of a uniformed state trooper aiming a radar gun.
The same was true on the Pennsylvania Turnpike near New Stanton, where, in a 10-minute span, a state police corporal clocked 17 vehicles going 65 mph or faster in a 55-mph work zone.
Police and traffic safety experts say it is part of a nationwide indifference to work zone speed limits -- a carelessness that often is deadly.
Nationwide, work zone crashes kill an average of more than 750 people a year and injure 38,000. In Pennsylvania last year, there were 2,055 work zone crashes and 27 deaths -- eight more than in the preceding year.
"It's a continuing, ongoing problem," said Art Prado, executive director of the Constructors Association of Western Pennsylvania, made up of highway contractors. "That number [of fatalities] continues to be alarmingly high."
The toll is likely to grow, fueled by a healthy economy that has increased both traffic and the number of road repair projects. Statewide construction activity has grown in three years from $800 million to $1.3 billion, said Ron Geist, managing director of the Pennsylvania Highway Information Association, which promotes work zone safety.
Contrary to advertising campaigns that emphasize the safety of construction workers, most victims of work zone crashes are vehicle occupants -- 84 percent nationwide from 1994 to 1998.
But the U.S. Department of Transportation also reports that fatality rates for highway workers are twice that of other types of construction.
Forty-five states have followed Pennsylvania's lead in legislating higher fines for work zone speeding.
It hasn't worked.
To no one's great surprise, recent studies concluded that doubling fines in work zones had no impact on motorists' habits or fatality rates.
Other measures aimed at slowing traffic in work zones -- ranging from rumble strips to electronic speed displays -- also haven't worked.
The only effective measure -- having police in marked cars stationed near construction areas -- is infrequently used because of personnel shortages and other law enforcement priorities.
"We have too many construction jobs and they don't have enough troopers," said Wally Smith, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation traffic control specialist.
"When I talk to highway contractors throughout the state, they say they definitely see a significant difference in speeds when there is some kind of law enforcement presence," Geist said.
"As soon as that law enforcement presence is not there, especially on the interstates where you have a lot of communication among truckers, they just go barreling through the work zones."
Turnpike speedway
State police Cpl. Dave Cauffiel hid his unmarked Ford Crown Victoria behind a bridge abutment at a bend in the turnpike about eight miles east of New Stanton.
The westbound side, part of a 9-mile work zone, has a 55-mph speed limit. Cauffiel squeezed the trigger of his radar gun at the first car. A bright red "69" appeared on the display. In short order, there would be a 71, two 67s and another 69.
"Already, the truckers know we're here," Cauffiel said as his CB radio percolated with chatter about a "bear right around the bend there westbound."
Indeed, most passing trucks were soon on their best behavior. Cars, oblivious to the truckers' broadcasts, weren't. "67 ... 65 ... 70," the radar showed.
Because he was talking with a pair of reporters, Cauffiel was letting the speeders go. Until his display lit up with a "77," that is.
Cauffiel grabbed his radio mike and barked out the particulars. "Somerset Three ... silver Mazda Miata ... 77."
Two miles up the road, "Somerset Three," a marked police cruiser on patrol in the work zone, pulled the Miata over.
Moments later, it was David P. Garner's unlucky day. He roared by in a dark green Acura, also hitting 77 on the radar gun. Cauffiel peeled out after him.
"Everybody's going pretty fast. Nobody's doing 55," said Garner, 58, of Lake Ridge, Va., as Cauffiel wrote him a $216.50 ticket that included a doubled fine.
Garner said he didn't believe he was imperiling construction workers because they were on the opposite side of a high concrete barrier. "I move with the traffic. The traffic does slow down to meet the danger. If they don't perceive a danger, most people continue on at the speed they were going."
Later, Cauffiel talked about the perils of the work zone -- concrete Jersey barriers snug against traffic lanes; construction trucks pulling on and off the highway; the hilly, bending terrain.
A motorist might think there is no construction activity "then come around a curve and there are workers right there, or traffic, stopped dead. It's hard to stop real quick when you're doing 70 or more," he said.
He quickly added that Garner would have gotten a ticket even if he hadn't been in a work zone because of his high speed.
Cauffiel's Troop T patrols the work zone, and there's always at least one state police cruiser roving.
In the past few weeks, they've cleaned up after two truck crashes in the zone. A rig carrying cake mix took a curve too fast July 16 and its trailer went 150 feet down an embankment, spilling Duncan Hines all over the countryside but leaving the driver with only minor injuries.
On July 22, the carnage was worse. A truck hauling beef cattle lost control on a curve, hit a concrete barrier and flipped onto its side, ripping the trailer open, killing 28 cattle and freeing others to roam the highway. The truck's three human occupants weren't hurt. Traffic was messed up for 11 hours.
The workers' view
Bill Kettler delivers fuel to heavy equipment in the Interstate 79 construction zone in Washington County. That means a good part of his office hours are spent within a few steps of the traffic rushing through the work area.
"It gets shaky at times," he said. "They come by here pretty fast."
Asked if speeding is common, he nodded toward the blur of passing cars and trucks and said curtly: "You judge for yourself."
Prado said he has heard that truckers on I-80 would playfully clip orange barrels or let their tires ride up on concrete construction barriers, "which sets off a whining sound that's quite terrifying," causing construction workers to scatter.
In a work zone on Route 60 in Beaver County, Smith, a 32-year PennDOT veteran, noted that sometimes slow-moving, jammed traffic can be nearly as hazardous as speeders.
"I've been called every name in the book. I've been spit at, had rocks thrown at me," he said. "I've seen cars go into the closed lane [behind the orange barrels] just to get ahead of a few cars."
When traffic is not jammed, "people will drive as fast as they can get away with," Smith said.
That was evident in the I-79 construction zone one recent sunny day. State Trooper Joseph Christy of the Washington barracks agreed to monitor speeds with a radar gun for visiting Post-Gazette and KDKA-TV reporters.
Of 61 vehicles clocked by Christy, 34 were going more than 6 mph above the posted 50-mph limit. Sixteen were doing 60 mph or more.
There was little construction activity and few workers in the 8-mile zone, and had Christy decided to cite speeders, it's doubtful they would have faced doubled fines.
That's because of what some see as a weakness in Pennsylvania's law -- the doubled-fine rule doesn't apply when workers aren't in the vicinity.
The motorists clocked by Christy had no way of knowing whether they would encounter construction crews or vehicles or stopped traffic around the next bend.
Construction zones become more dangerous at night, whether or not workers are present.
Nationally, about half of all fatal crashes in 1998 occurred at night. But 58 percent of the fatal crashes in construction zones were after dark.
Predictably, 63 percent of the fatal crashes in construction zones were in summer and fall, when the bulk of road work is done.
Christy said state police run regular patrols through the I-79 work zone and there have been no major accidents there. "Generally, we're there trying to slow traffic down" rather than write tickets, said the trooper, who said he hasn't issued any doubled fines.
He said it's difficult to enforce speed limits in work areas. There aren't many places where police can set up radar checks, and pulling out to pursue speeders is dangerous. Often there isn't room to pull them over.
Decoys and dummies
For years, police and highway departments have scrambled for ways to slow traffic in work zones. Most of their tricks haven't worked.
In South Dakota, decommissioned police cars are placed at the entrances to work zones. Other jurisdictions have put mannequins dressed in police uniforms in the driver's seat.
Geist said truckers are on to the ruse and quickly spread the word via CB when they spot a "dummy" police car.
Pennsylvania tried "drone" radar -- devices that emit signals to trigger radar detectors in vehicles. The fake signals were aimed primarily at long-haul truckers, said Richard Sesny, manager of PennDOT's regulations and traffic control section.
The state quit the effort when the federal government banned radar detectors in commercial vehicles, he said, although he suspects truckers still use the devices.
Other states have tried drone radar, but researchers in Illinois listened to CB radio transmissions and learned that motorists were quickly able to discern that no police were present and the signals were fake.
Sesny said Pennsylvania now injects safety messages and warnings onto CB Channel 19 when there are lulls in trucker chatter.
Sesny said work zone speed limits in Pennsylvania are set on a case-by-case basis.
A U.S. Transportation Department report noted that safety efforts can be hampered when signs warn of construction zones but no work is occurring.
"Motorist credibility is ... a major issue in controlling speed in the work zone. The presence of barrels and reduced speed limits coupled with no visible work taking place ... has the public questioning the highway community's credibility."
The Iowa Department of Transportation published a report in April on work zone speed reduction strategies, based on a nationwide survey of transportation agencies.
It concluded that on-site police enforcement was the most effective method, but noted "the use of police officers at work zones is infrequent" because police have more pressing priorities.
The authors suggested high-tech alternatives, including robotic flaggers and photo radar enforcement machines. The radar machines photograph speeders' license plates.
The report noted how one common strategy for slowing vehicles seemed to backfire.
On the Ohio Turnpike, electronic signs were installed to display motorists' speeds in hopes they would slow down. Instead, "trucks would see how high the numbers would go," state officials reported.
Doubled fines fizzle
In 1989, Pennsylvania became the first state to legislate higher fines for traffic violations in work zones. Since then, at least 45 states have adopted similar legislation.
The warnings have become familiar to motorists approaching work zones on interstate highways: "Protect our construction workers -- fines doubled."
In Pennsylvania, speeding in a work zone can be expensive -- if you're caught. Fines and costs for doing 60 mph in a 40-mph work zone are nearly $230.
But the consensus of national and state experts is that the legislation has little impact.
Gerald Ullman, a Texas researcher who has studied work zone safety for 15 years, published a report last year concluding that "implementation of the double-fine law has had no measurable effect" in that state.
An earlier study by Ullman concluded that fatality rates did not decrease in 14 states that enacted stiffer fines for work zone speeding.
The higher fines haven't worked because police "don't have the resources to go out and heavily cite and fine motorists," he said. Even when they do, judges often trim the penalties.
Neither PennDOT nor state police keep track of how many motorists are hit with double fines for speeding in Pennsylvania work zones.
Raising awareness
Two billboard campaigns have sought to awaken motorists to the dangers of speeding in work zones.
PennDOT Secretary Bradley L. Mallory in April unveiled orange-and-black roadside signs with the message: "Slow down, my daddy/mommy works here" written in a crayon-style text.
The purpose was "to remind drivers that construction crews are more than obstacles and delays. They are living, breathing people with families to support and children who love them," the department said.
The Pennsylvania Highway Information Association has a smaller campaign, with about 20 billboards statewide, showing orange construction barrels and warning that motorists could be "dead wrong" to disregard them.
The association sponsored a series of public service announcements on radio and TV, including spots during Penn State football broadcasts urging fans to tailgate at football games but not in work zones, Geist said. It also has worked with the state Education Department to implement work zone safety training in 400 high school driver's education programs.
Despite all the attention focused on work zone safety, the number of fatal accidents spiked upward from 693 in 1997 to 772 in 1998, the last year for which national statistics are available.
That was still lower than the 884 deaths recorded in 1994, but Ullman said he didn't think it was because motorists are playing it safer. Rather, he attributed the decline to car safety improvements such as air bags and better-designed work zones.
With increased construction, "I expect the next couple of years will see even higher crash rates and more fatalities," he said.
For more information, visit the National Work Zone Information Clearinghouse on the Internet at http://wzsafety.tamu.edu .
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