AASHTO Issues New Report on Accidents in Work Zones

In recent years there has been a substantial increase in reconstruction and rehabilitation of the nation’s highways. As the highways age, the need for rebuilding and maintenance increases. Most of this work has been accomplished during daylight, while traffic is conducted through the work site. Thus, work zones have not only grown in number across the country, but the risk of accidents has been aggravated by the heavy traffic volume passing through work zones. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatal Accident Reporting System (FARS), fatalities in work zones have substantially increased. In 1982, 490 persons were killed in work zone accidents, while in 1985, 680 lost their lives.
In an attempt to address the serious problem work zone accidents have become, and to learn more about these accidents, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Official’s (AASHTO’s) Committee on Highway Traffic Safety, along with the Public Affairs Task Force on Work Zone Safety, collected state work zone accident data. The goal was to analyze the scope of the work zone problem in order to suggest ways to reduce the dangers work zones present. The Committee received usable data from 38 states.
The findings of this data collection were published in July, 1987 as “Summary Report on Work Zone Accidents” by the Standing Committee on Highway Traffic Safety of AASHTO.