FHWA Administrator Opens Work-Zone Safety Week

Work zone fatalities increased nationwide 53% from 1998 to 2002, according to Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) data. Four out of five people killed were either drivers or passengers. FHWA Administrator Mary Peters said a combination of government safety programs and safe-driving habits can significantly reduce the more than 52,000 injuries and fatalities that occur each year in highway work zones. Peters, likening roads to “offices” of highway workers, set up her office in the middle of a busy interstate interchange on April 6 to demonstrate the danger to drivers, passengers and workers from unsafe driving habits in highway work zones. She kicked off National Work Zone Awareness Week from her “outside” office near I-95 in Springfield, Va., an area commonly referred to as the “mixing bowl” because of recent massive construction of the interchange.