As Memorial Day arrives, we in the construction industry, like you, are anxious to hit the road and enjoy the warmer weather.
But, like you, we are not looking forward to the season’s monstrous traffic jams that invariably snarl our local roads and highways–the miles-long, bumper-to-bumper backups that make us late for work, or dinner, or our child’s Little League game.
It can be stressful, to say the least.
Like you, we know all that. So this Memorial Day and throughout the summer, please don’t take out your frustration on the very individuals who are trying to reduce your travel times: construction workers.
Despite daily abuse, most return to their job sites with each sunrise–except, that is, for those run down by careless drivers.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, work-zone fatalities have increased 48 percent in the U.S. since 1997. In 2003 alone 1,028 Americans were killed in work zones, and another 41,000 were injured. Some 20 percent were construction workers.
On behalf of these hardworking men and women who risk their lives daily to keep us moving, I ask that you remember they are also flesh-and-blood people, with children and places to be, just like you. So please drive safely, soberly and slowly through highway work zones this summer. After all the worker families who are still feeling only loss this Memorial Day deserve no less.
