A few years ago, a contractor with the State of Illinois contacted then-State Rep. Duane Noland, a Decatur Republican.
“He was a local road builder, and he said `would you come out with me one day to the job site. I’d like you to observe what goes on [Interstate Highway] 72,'” recalled Noland, now a state senator. “So I took a drive out there while his company was refinishing the road.”
What the state legislator saw was eye-opening and frightening.
“I studied the driving habits of people in the construction zone and most people didn’t slow down,” Noland said. “This was a four-lane road, and it was closed down to one lane with a flagman and a billboard helping to reroute traffic.
“The drivers were going way too fast for conditions,” Noland said. “The speed limit was marked down to 30 miles per hour but they were going 55 to 60 m.p.h. Most of the drivers were distracted–they were reading or talking on their cellphones.”
The visit prompted Noland to co-sponsor House Bill 3246, which amended the Illinois Vehicle Code by raising the minimum fine for a second or subsequent violation of a work zone or school-zone speed limit. Beginning Jan. 1, violators who paid $150 for the offense now pay $300.
“It will make a difference,” Noland said.
The bill was just one step state officials have taken in recent years to protect construction workers and emergency personnel responding to accidents in construction zones. Under a state law, known as Scott’s Law, that also took effect Jan. 1, drivers face a minimum fine of $150 the first time they are caught speeding in a construction zone, twice the amount of a regular speeding ticket, according to state police.
The law also protects emergency workers, such as police officers and firefighters, responding to accidents on roadways.
Several state legislators are working on a third piece of work-zone legislation. House Bill 3652 would amend the Illinois Vehicle Code by stationing an Illinois State Police officer and vehicle at a construction on a state highway, said State Rep. Mary Kay O’Brien, a Coal City Democrat and a cosponsor.
In addition, the bill requires the officer to constantly flash the lights of the police vehicle while it’s at the site. The officer at the site would be pulled from off-duty shifts and paid for by the fines charged violators, said O’Brien, vice chairman of the legislature’s Transportation and Motor Vehicles Committee.
The bill has been approved by the Illinois House, and O’Brien expects it to be approved by the full Senate early this month and made into law in July.
Key here, she said, is the state police presence. “When you see flashing lights, you slow down,” O’Brien said.
“Nothing slows people down like a trooper at the site,” said Bennett Krause, legislative liaison for Teamsters Local 916, which represents highway maintenance workers. “Our workers could use that extra protection.”
In addition, the state has increased state police presence on the highways and tollways, said Master Sgt. Lincoln Hampton, a spokesman for the Illinois State Police. “When workers feel there’s hazardous conditions–like when they’re working on a bridge–they’ll ask for a state police squad car to sit out there. It’s obviously more effective to have a marked squad car at a construction site versus a flagman.”
In addition, a zero tolerance policy in work zones will continue to be enforced, he said.
The regulatory steps have been taken, state officials said, because of a growing number of deaths and injuries caused by vehicle crashes in construction zones. Highway zones are considered to be one of the most hazardous workplaces in the country, said Illinois Department of Transportation officials, who added that there are almost 4,000 crashes in work zones annually.
Last year, 36 people died in work-zone crashes, and thousands were injured. Across the country, vehicle crashes killed nearly 1,100 people in highway work zones and injured more than 40,000. In 2000, there were 38 fatalities in Illinois and 17 in 1991, said Mike Monseur, an Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman.
“There is no excuse for going that fast through a construction zone,” said O’Brien. “Most people don’t think of a highway construction job as a life-threatening job. But a woman from Clifton that I knew was killed last year by a vehicle travelling 68 to 78 m.p.h. in the construction zone she was working in along Illinois Highway 54 in Ford County.
“She was a flagger,” O’Brien said. “Her body was thrown, and it hit other workers. It was her first day of flagging, and she asked to be on a state highway versus an interstate because she was worried about safety on the interstate.”
Monseur added that last year a flagger was killed on Interstate Highway 57 in the south suburbs.
“The flagger had traffic stopped in one direction so the other direction could go through,” he said. “A semi came up and crashed into the cars the flagger stopped. The truck hit and killed the flagger and threw her 200 feet. The crash also killed two people in the oncoming lane.”
“The Decatur builder who initially contacted me had employees who were involved in traffic problems,” Noland said. “He told me about a truck hauling a wide load that came through the barricades and hit his workers. And the truck driver never even knew what he had done.”
Distraction, impatience also factors
Speeding, driver distraction and impatience add to work-zone crashes, said Monseur. “Drivers’ attitudes have changed,” Monseur said. “More people are using their cars for everything but driving. And they’re in a hurry. People are jockeying for position. And although they see the construction warning signs, the lanes taper and they lose control and crash.”
“People are also eating, drinking and doing office work,” Noland said. “I saw a young girl putting on makeup while driving through a construction zone.”
In addition, there are more vehicles on the road and more construction.
“There’s been a record number of road and bridge projects in the state in the last three years,” Noland said.
According to IDOT data, there were more than 9.4 million registered vehicles in Illinois by the end of last decade, up from nearly 8 million in the early 1990s.
Construction in Illinois has risen from 996 miles and 547 bridges at a cost of $1.1 billion in 1992 to 1,327 miles and 369 bridges at a total cost of $2.3 billion this year.
Though most drivers may be unaware of the new laws, state officials said the increased fines and police presence should educate them quickly. Also helping will be safety campaigns at job sites, including “Give ’em a brake.”
“The word gets out fast that if you do this, the fine doubles,” O’Brien said. “We fought the same battle with speeding in a school zone or passing school buses.”
“Doubling the fine has gotten a lot of people’s attention,” Noland said, though no statistics are available on the number of incidents before and after the increase in fines. “Getting hit in the pocketbook hurts. A $75 to $150 fine a big fine for a lot of people.”
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Zoned in
According to the Illinois Department of Transportation, these tips can keep workers and drivers safe in road-construction zones:
Slow down. Posted speed limits through work zones are the law. Dangers exist in construction zones even if workers are not there. The Illinois State Police has a zero tolerance policy against violations in work zones and fines are doubled.
Pay attention. Traffic patterns in highway work zones can change several times a day. Even drivers familiar with a road or work zone should watch for new lane closures and changing traffic patterns. Don’t take anything for granted in a work zone. Expect the unexpected.
Follow the signs. Signs, arrowboards and flaggers are there to help guide you safely and efficiently through the work zone. Merge early when approaching a work zone, don’t keep driving in the merge lane until the last moment.
Don’t follow too closely. One of the most common crashes in a work zone is a rear-end collision. Drivers should make sure they can safely stop if traffic backs up. Allow at least two seconds of time between your vehicle and the one in front of you and don’t change lanes in a work zone.
Be patient. Most of the time work zones will require lane closures, so a driver will have to slow down well below the speed limit and should be prepared to stop if congestion is heavy or if construction equipment is being moved. Impatience and anger will not get you through the work area any faster.
Turn on your headlights. Workers and other motorists driving through the work zone need to see your vehicle. Truckers should use emergency flashers to warn motorists that you are slowing.
