A zero-tolerance policy for drivers who speed in work zones will begin next week.
Tulsa World
By SARA PLUMMER World Staff Writer
Published: 4/2/20112:23 AM
Last Modified: 4/2/20116:49 AM
As temperatures get higher, so do the number of orange cones and barrels in work zones along Oklahoma highways and roads.
In 2010, 18 people were killed and 748 were injured in 1,407 collisions in Oklahoma work zones, the most injuries in a decade, according to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation.
Friday, representatives from ODOT, AAA Oklahoma and several law enforcement agencies - including Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Tulsa County Sheriff's Office and Tulsa, Jenks, Broken Arrow, Sand Springs and Sapulpa police departments - attended a news conference to kick off National Work Zone Awareness Week.
Casey Shell, ODOT director of operations, said spring and summer is construction zone season, and people need to be cautious when driving through work zones.
"Eighty percent of fatalities that happen in work zones are drivers or passengers in those vehicles," Shell said.
Col. Kerry Pettingill, chief of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, said people need to pay attention to construction signs, their own driving and everything around them when going through work zones, again emphasizing that four out of five people killed in work zones are drivers or passengers... FULL ARTICLE
Posted on
Sat, April 2, 2011
by John Cox