Fatalities in Work Zones: A Cause for Concern

The Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) hosted a press conference at its Headquarters at 10:30 a.m. on April 6 to promote National Highway Work Zone Safety Awareness Week. A total of 868 cones with black ribbons are on display in the front of the DOTD building in memory of the highway workers and motorists who were killed in work zones in 1999 nationwide. In that same year, 16 fatal crashes involving 17 fatalities occurred in Louisiana, according to Dan Magri, DOTD Traffic Safety Manager.